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BELOIT    COLLEGE 


QUARTER  CENTEMIAL. 


1847 — 1872. 


EXERCISES 


AT    THE 


Ouarter-Centennial 


Anniversary 


of 


BELOIT  COLLEGE. 


JULY  9,  18T2. 


BELOIT  : 
1872. 

Garret  Veeder,  Printer,  Janetrllle,  Wis.  UNIVERSfTY  OF 

ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
RT  URBANA-CHAMPA1GN 


QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 


13EL0IT  COLLEGE 

Quarter    C enteimial. 


In  anticipation  of  the  Twenty -fifth  Anniversary  of  Beloit 
College,  the  Board  of  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  in  July  1871, 
appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  the  President,  L.  G.  Fisher, 
Esq.,  Rev.  G.  S.  F.  Savage,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  J.  Collie,  to 
make  arrangements  for  the  celebration  of  that  event,  the  fol 
lowing  year. 

After  conference  with  members  of  the  Faculty  and  the 
Alumni,  it  was  determined  that  the  afternoon  and  evening  of 
Tuesday,  July  9th,  1872,  should  be  occupied  with  the  reading 
of  several  brief  memorial  papers  on  designated  topics  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Trustees,  the  Faculty  and  the  Alumni. 

In  accordance  with  this  an-angement,  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  named,  a  goodly  number  of  Alumni  and  other  friends 
of  the  College  gathered  in  the  First  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  J.  Collie,  of  the  first  class  graduated,  was  called  to  the 
chair.  The  assembly  joined  in  singing  the  doxology,  "Praise 
God  from  -whom  all  blessings  flow."  Rev.  S.  W.  Eaton 
led  in  prayer.  Then  followed  words  of  welcome  from  the 
President  and  the  reading  of  the  first  six  papers  in  order  as 
here  presented.  The  last  two  papers  were  read  in  the  evening, 
after  the  Alumni  Oration  by  Hon.  C.  W.  Buckley  of  the  class 
of  1860,  and  the  Poem  by  Prof.  P.  Hendrickson  of  the  clasg 
of  1867. 


0 


OF    BELOIX    COLLEGE. 


PRESIDENT    CHAPIN'S 

WOMB 8    OF    WELCOME, 


I  am  charged  with  the  pleasant  duty  on  this  happy  anniver- 
sary, which  closes  the  first  quarter  century  of  the  life  of  Beloit 
College,  to  express  her  kindly  greeting  to  her  gathered  sons 
and  friends.  Alumni  of  Beloit,  each  and  all  receive  the  glad 
welcome  of  Alma  Mater,  as  you  come  back  from  your  various 
homes  and  spheres  of  duty  and  care,  to  the  family  hearth-stone. 
You  are  here  to  honor  this  silver  wedding-day,  commemorative 
of  her  espousal  to  Christ,  the  King,  in  the  interest  of  truth  and 
right  and  sound  learning,  and  the  well-being  of  men,  and  the 
glory  of  God.  She  looks  fondly  on  your  manly  faces.  Her 
heart  swells  with  worthy  pride  as  she  reviews  the  lives  you 
have  been  living  since  you  went  out  from  her  charge  ;  and  she 
borrows  the  honors  you  have  won,  and  wears  them  as  jewels 
for  her  adornment  to  day.  Your  presence  fills  her  heart  with 
gladness  and  her  face  with  smiles. 

Be  ye  also  glad.  Make  yourselves  at  home,  as  we  sit  down 
together  to  revive  the  associations  of  the  past.  Speak  all  your 
mind.  As  in  sober  conference  we  try  to  cast  the  future  of  the 
college,  under  the  grave  responsibility  of  a  character  and  repu- 
tation already  gained,  give  us  the  benefit  of  your  observations 
in  the  world  without,  and  speak  to  us  words  of  cheer  which 
shall  animate  our  courage  and  inspire  our  endeavors  to  set  this 
beloved  institution  forward  for  greater  and  better  things,  from 
this  day  forth.  As  you  move  again  amid  these  classic  halls  and 
academic  shades  familiar  to  you  all,  know  one  another  as  broth- 
ers. Stand  on  no  formalities  of  introduction,  but  let  the  com- 
mon tie  draw  you  freely  and  kindly  to  each  other.  So  may  you 
all  both  give  and  get  a  blessing  from  this  festive  assembling. 

We  include  in  this  hearty  welcome,  not  only  the  regular 
graduates,  but  all  those  who,  in  former  years,  have  been  for 
some  time  under  instruction  here,  and  whom  the  college  loves  to 


4  QUARTER   CENTENNIAL 

regard  as  her  sons.  We  extend  to  you  all  a  warm  right-hand 
of  greeting  and  a  cordial  invitation  to  this  goodly  fellowship, 
and  we  count  as  welcome  friends  also,  all,  whose  interest  in  the 
general  cause  of  education,  as  well  as  in  this  particular  agency 
for  it,  has  drawn  them  hither  to-day. 

Our  arrangements  are  quite  inadequate  to  fulfil  all  our  de- 
sire. Our  words  must  be  few  and  hurried,  but  Ave  trust  they 
Will  bring  up  pleasant  memories  of  the  past,  and  present  a 
bright  and  hopeful  outlook  for  the  future,  and  kindle  in  all  our 
souls  a  fresh  enthusiasm,  and  inspire  prayers  fervent  and  strong, 
to  Him  who  has  set  the  seal  of  his  blessing  on  the  college  hith- 
erto, and  so  prepare  the  way,  under  the  continual  guidance  of 
divine  wisdom  and  the  help  of  divine  power,  for  the  life  so  au- 
spiciously begun,  to  go  on  unfolding  gracefully  and  grandly  and 
more  and  more  fruitfully  to  the  end  of  the  century,  and  on  still 
on,  for  centuries  to  come.  Now  the  seed  that  was  planted  here 
twenty-five  years  ago,  was  in  its  kind,  like  that  of  the  Califor- 
nia cedars,  a  germ  of  life  for  the  centuries,  nay  more,  it  has 
bound  up  in  it,  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  The  plant  that 
sprung  from  it,  though  already  fruitful,  is  yet  in  its  infancy. 
Friends,  brothers,  sons,  let  it  have  your  loving  regard,  your  fos- 
tering care,  your  generous  gifts,  your  prevailing  prayers ;  for 
our  aims  and  hopes  for  it  are  high  and  large. 


OF    BELOIT    (  OLLEGE. 


.A.  PAPER- 

On  Ike  Acts  aiid  Aims  of  the  Founders  of  Beloit 

College. 

BY    REV.    A.    L.  CI  r  A  PIN,  1).  1). 

PRESIDENT     OF     TIKCB     COLLEQE. 

It  devolves  on  me  now.  to  begin  these  memorial  exercises  by 
presenting*  in  pencil  sketch,  as  well  as  I  may,  some  of  the  in- 
itiatory steps  taken  for  the  founding  of  our  college.  The  scene 
of  the  first  sketch  is  in  the  old  stone  church  of  Beloit,  in  the 
Fall  of  1843.  The  house  was  not  quite  finished,  but  when  com- 
pleted, a  few  weeks  later,  it  stood  the  most  stately  and  grand 
house  of  christian  worship  then  in  Wisconsin.  It  was  at  the 
•time,  made  comfortable  for  the  meeting  of  the  General  Presby- 
terian and  Congregational  Convention  of  Wisconsin,  whose 
members,  at  that  fall  session,  numbered  just  twenty-eight,  rep- 
resenting all  parts  of  the  territory  of  Wisconsin,  into  which 
christian  civilization  had  then  made  its  way.  It  was  my  first 
introduction  as  a  young  pastor,  to  that  body.  I  found  those  men 
,  then  and  there  thinking  on  a  college.  They  had  been  thinking 
on  it  for  a  year  or  more.  Less  than  ten  years  after  Black  Hawk 
and  his  wild  Indian  troop  had  been  chased  by  the  Illinois  vol- 
unteers under  Lincoln  and  his  compeers,  up  through  this  Hock 
River  valley,  those  pioneers  of  Christ's  army  came  in  and  had 
entertained  the  thought  of  planting  a  college,  on  the  colony 
plan,  away  up  by  the  beaver's  dam  on  the  head  waters  of  this 
clear  stream.  They  surmised  correctly  that  the  land  could  not 
be  held  in  full  posession  by  their  king,  till  his  power  should  be 
entrenched  in  such  a  stronghold  of  sanctified  learning.  They 
concluded  to  abandon  that  scheme,  but  the  main  thought  was 
cherished  still.  A  college  must  be  buill  up  and  its  life  and 
strength  must  be  the  spirit  of  simple,  self-sacrificing  devotion 
to  Christ's  saving  work.  So  much  was  clear  and  settled  by 
that  first  step,  from  which  they  drew  back. 

Let  me  take  you  next,  a  few  months  later,    in  the  early  sum^ 


6  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

mer  of  1844,  to  the  door  of  a  little  state-room  of  the  steamer 
Chesapeake,  moving  over  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  and  bearing 
as  part  of  her  freight,  delegates  returning  from  a  great  north- 
western gathering  of  christian  men  and  women,  that  had  been 
called  at  Cleaveland,  to  consider  the  general  interests  of  Christ's 
kingdom  in  the  wide  Mississippi  valley.  You  may  see  seven  of 
us  crowded  together  in  that  narrow  room.  Stephen  Peet,  to 
whom  belongs  the  honor  of  being  foremost  and  chief  of  the 
founders  of  Beloit  College,  is  lying  on  the  berth,  ill  in  body, 
but  his  fertile  mind  as  active  as  ever  in  planning  for  the  spirit- 
ual interests  of  this  region.  By  his  side  sits  Theron  Baldwin, 
then  just  entering  on  his  life-work.  Miter,  Gaston,  Hicks,  Bulk- 
ley  and  myself  are  standing  by,  listening  to  their  talk.  The 
Western  College  Society  was  fairly  organized  and  Baldwin,  its 
Secretary  and  soul,  unfolds  its  purpose  and  plans.  There  is 
light  and  hope  in  what  he  says.  A  hand  from  the  East  will  be 
stretched  out  to  help  on  the  establishment  of  genuine  christian 
colleges,  judiciously  located  here  and  there  in  the  West.  Peet 
seizes  on  the  gleam  of  encouragement,  his  uttered  thoughts 
kindle  enthusiasm  and  hope  in  the  rest.  There  is  an  earnest 
consultation — there  is  a  fervent  prayer — there  is  a  settled  pur- 
pose and  Beloit  College  is  a  living  conception.  The  seven  there, 
take  on  themselves  the  responsibility  of  calling  a  meeting  of 
the  friends  of  christian  education  in  the  three  adjoining  states 
of  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  for  definite  consultation  on  the 
subject  of  providing  institutions  for  liberal  education  under 
christian  influences,  in  this  part  of  the  country.  The  steamer 
Chesapeake  has  long  since  gone  to  pieces,  but  of  that  conference 
on  her  deck  came  the  framing  of  this  good  ship  whose  ribs  and 
hull  are  wrought  of  eternal  truths  that  know  no  decay,  whose 
motive  power  is  gendered  by  the  fire  of  Christ's  love  turning 
into  vital  forces  irrepressible,  the  latent  energies  of  human  souls, 
whose  course  is  laid  to  run  for  the  ages,  till  all  the  ends  of  the 
earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God. 

It  was  the  6th  of  August,  1844,  when  the  meeting  convened 
in  the  same  old  stone  church,  of  sacred  memory.  From  Iowa 
came  four,  from  Illinois  twenty-seven,  from  Wisconsin  twenty 
five — fifty-six  in  all.  The  honest,  brave  and  good  brother  Kent, 
was  called  to  preside.     For  two  days  they  talked  and  prayed 


OF   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  7 

over  the  question  before  them,  in  a  frank,  earnest,  independent 
spirit,  with  some  sharp  collision  of  opinions  but  with  harmoni- 
ous results.  They  decided  that  a  college  ought  immediately  to 
be  established  in  Iowa,  and  that  the  exigences  of  northern 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin  required  a  college  and  a  female  Semina- 
ry of  the  highest  order  to  be  established,  each  near  the  border 
line.  A  committee  of  ten  was  appointed  to  consider  the  action 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  purpose  and  report  to  a  future  con- 
vention. The  second  convention  met  in  October  of  the  same 
year  and  was  composed  of  fifty  members,  all  from  Wisconsin 
and  Illinois.  They  reaffirmed  the  previous  decision,  but  know- 
ing that  the  success  of  the  enterprise  must  depend  on  the  hearty 
co-operation  of  the  churches,  definite  action  was  still  deferred 
and  measures  were  taken,  through  circulars  and  committees  of 
visitation,  to  give  information  and  awaken  interest  more  gener- 
ally on  the  subject,  A  third  convention,  the  largest  of  all, 
numbering  sixty-eight,  assembled  in  May,  1845,  and  after  ear- 
nest and  prayerful  discussion,  reviewing  the  whole  subject,  with 
only  one  dissenting  voice,  located  the  college  in  Beloit.  The 
plans  for  the  Female  Seminary  could  not  then  be  matured. 
In  October  1845,  a  fourth  convention  met  and  adopted  a  form 
of  charter  and  elected  a  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  College,  and 
so  the  ship  was  launched. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  can  never  be  for- 
gotten by  those  present.  It  was  held  October  23d,  1845,  in 
the  basement  of  the  old  church,  immediately  after  the  last  con- 
vention adjourned.  Eight  of  the  fifteen  were  there,  Kent  and 
Peet  and  Hickcox,  whose  work  on  earth  is  nowdone,  and  Clary 
and  Pearson  and  Fisher  and  Talcott  and  Chapin,  still  mem- 
bers of  the  Board.  They  sat  in  silence  for  a  while,  looking  in 
each  other's  faces  and  trying  to  realize  the  responsibilities  of 
the  trust  imposed  upon  them.  One  said,  at  last,  "  Well,  breth- 
ren, what  are  we  to  do?"  The  ready  answer  came  from  brother 
Kent,  "  Let  us  pray."  The  prayer  that  then  went  up  to  heaven, 
warm  and  fervent  from  his  lips,  carrying  the  hearts  of  all,  was 
the  first  gasp  of  the  new-born  college  for  life.  The  breath  of  a 
divine  inspiration,  we  believe,  came  upon  it  then,  and  its  history 
since,  has  been  the  continued  answer  to  that  prayer. 


S  QU  Wl'WAI   CENTENNIAL. 

One  more  dale  and  one  more  scene  demand  notice  in  this 
record  of  first  steps.  It  was  the  24th  of  June,  1845,  "The 
day, — a  great  day  for  Beloit  and  its  infant  college — was  as 
bright  as  ever  dawned,  and  never  did  the  green  slopes  of  broad 
prairies  spread  themselves  in  greater  beauty  to  the  eye  of  men 
anywhere*  than  as  seen  that  day  from  the  college  bluff."  So 
opens  the  newspaper  report  at  the  time.  The  people  of  the 
village,  and  hundreds  from  the  neighboring  towns,  and  some 
from  remote  parts  of  the  land,  were  marshaled  in  formal  pro- 
cession under  the  direction  of  our  honored  and  lamented  fellow 
citizen,  John  M.  Keep,  Esq.,  and  proceeded  to  the  chosen  site. 
There,  an  assembly  estimated  to  number  nearly  two  thousand 
Avas  gathered  in  the  open  air.  Passages  of  Scripture  were  read 
by  Rev.  M.  Montague;  a  reverend  brother  from  Connecticut 
offered  prayer,  a  choir  of  sweet  voices  made  the  grove  resound 
to  the  praise  of  God,  as  they  sung  one  of  David's  psalms.  A 
historical  sketch,  (for  the  college  had  a  history  even  then)  was 
read  by  your  present  speaker,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Peet  stated  that 
resources  secured  for  the  enterprise,  were  the  choice  site  of 
ten  acres  on  which  they  stood  and  a  building  begun  by  the 
citizens  of  Beloit  in  fulfillment  of  their  pledge  ;  a  gift  of  160 
acres  in  Milwaukee  County  from  an  Eastern  friend,  and  lands 
valued  at  $10,000.00,  donated  by  the  Hon.  T.  W.  Williams  of 
Connecticut  as  a  foundation  for  the  first  professorship.  There, 
in  place  of  one  formal  extended  discourse  expected  from  Prof. 
Stowe,  whom  illness  prevented  from  fulfilling  his  appointment, 
the  hour  w^as  filled  up  by  brief,  off-hand,  pointed  speeches  from 
some  of  our  Western  men  called  suddenly  to  meet  the  emer- 
gency. First  came  our  giant  brother  Montgomery,  whose  great 
body  and  great  soul  were  all  aglow  with  enthusiasm  as  he 
argued  that  Western  minds  should  be  educated  on  Western 
soil  and  that  the  education  of  the  West  should  be  expanded, 
liberal  and  democratic,  a  universally  p>olished  Westernism. 
Next,  Rev.  T.  M.  Hopkins,  of  Racine,  with  pointed  and  force- 
ful words  set  forth  the  importance  of  training  mind  to  inde- 
pendent thinking  and  the  advantages  for  doing  this  here  in  the 
far  West.  Then,  Rev.  F.  Bascom,  an  early  pioneer  in  this  field, 
met  the  practical  question,  u  cui  bono?''  "  why  so  much  expense 


OF  BELOIT  COLLEGE,  ■> 

on  education  f  by  a  dear  and  impressive  presentation  of  the 
dependence  of  the  practical  arts  on  the  researches  of  Bci 

and  the  important  influences  which  emanate  from  a  true  christian 
college  for  the  general  intelligence  and  the  moral  purity  and 
health  of  the  whole  community.  He  was  followed  by  Rev. 
S.  G.  Spees,  then  of  Cincinnati,  whose  imagination,  kindled  by 
the  scene,  saw  in  the  burr-oak  openings  of  the  bluff  a  veritable 
grove  of  Parnassus,  and  in  the  clear  water  of  Rock  River,  a 
stream  as  good  for  inspiration  as  that  which  flowed  from  Cas- 
talia's  fount ;  and  out  of  these  classic  allusions  in  connection 
with  the  occasion,  he  drew  some  good  common  sense 
reasons  for  making  the  education  imparted  here,  thorough. 
Then  all  passed  to  the  rising  walls  near  by,  and  after  a  few 
plain,  fit  words,  Rev.  Mr.  Kent,  the  President  of  the  Board,  laid 
in  due  form  the  corner-stone  of  the  first  building,  and  in  fervent 
prayer,  consecrated  anew  the  whole  enterprise  to  Christ  and 
the  service  of  his  Kingdom.  Thus  Beloit  College  gained  a 
local  habitation  as  well  as  a  name.  It  was  a  good  day  of 
blessed  influences.  Little  boys  who  watched  with  childish  curi- 
osity the  proceedings,  caught  there  the  impulse  which,  in  due 
time,  brought  them  under  the  culture  of  the  college.  The  faith 
of  the  community  in  the  ultimate  success  of  the  enterprise  was 
strengthened.  New  friends  were  enlisted.  The  hearts  of  the 
trustees  were  encouraged  and  from  this  literal  commencement. 
the  College  started  forward  at  once,  for  its  legitimate  work. 

I  can  linger  no  longer  on  these  early  scenes,  nor  will  I 
attempt  an  elaborate  exposition  of  the  aims  contemplated  by 
those  who  thus  laid  the  foundations.  They  are  sufficiently- 
indicated  by  the  sketches  I  have  given.  In  these  early  coun- 
sels, representatives  of  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
churches,  then  in  the  region,  mingled  in  about  equal  prop or 
tions.  They  came  together  not  with  any  sectarian  zeal,  but 
as  christian  men,  joined  in  heart  and  hand  for  a  great  and  good 
work.  They  regarded  a  positive,  religious  influence  as  essen- 
tial to  the  completeness  of  a  liberal  education,  and  their  aim  was 
defined  to  be,  to  make  this  college  in  all  its  teaching  and  influ- 
ence, not  narrowly  denominational  but  broadly  and  purely  and 
positively  evangelical,.  They  were  swayed  by  no  personal,  no 
local  or  sectional  interests,  but  by  thoughtful  consideration  on 


10  QUABUB    ANTENOENIL 

the  needs  of  human  society  and  the  grand  purpose  of  Godst 
redeeming  providence  and  the  obligation  resting  on  all  men  of 
christian  culture  to  help  on  the  civilization  of  the  world  and  its 
subjection  to  the  Lord,  Christ.  Their  aim  was  to  establish  an 
institution  to  which  young  men  from  any  part  of  the  land  or  of 
the  world  might  come  and  prepare  themselves  to  go  out  into 
all  parts  of  the  world  and  labor  for  the  well-being  of  men  and 
the  glory  of  God.  It  was  made  a  condition  of  the  first  donation 
received  from  abroad,  that  the  college  should  know  no  distinc- 
tion of  race  and  color.  The  condition  was  heartily  accepted ;  for 
it  was  in  full  accord  with  the  thought  and  aims  of  the  founders. 
On  the  roll  of  students  are  found  representatives  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  the  Keltic,  the  Kymric,  the  Gailic,  the  Teutonic,  the 
African,  the  aboriginal  American,  the  Armenian,  and  the  Japan- 
ese races;  and  the  sons  of  the  college  are  already  abroad  labor- 
ing for  the  advancement  of  nearly  all  these  races  on  their  native 
soil. 

And  for  its  interior  work,  the  detailed  processes  of  culture, 
the  aim  distinctly  contemplated  from  the  beginning  is  to  make 
thorough  work  with  young  men  in  the  training  part  of  a  liberal, 
christian  education.  The  course  of  study  prescribed  aims  at  a 
systematic,  widely  varied  and  precise  drilling  of  all  the  powers 
of  the  mind,  by  exercise  in  the  leading  departments  of  human 
thought  and  learning.  The  end  sought  is  a  symmetrical  devel- 
cpement  of  all  the  faculties  in  a  way  to  give  the  man  full 
command  of  those  faculties  for  any  purpose,  and  christian  ele- 
ments are  made  to  pervade  the  whole  process,  that  the  relation 
cf  religious  truth  to  all  other  forms  of  truth  may  be  appre- 
hended and  that  the  perfect  balance  of  the  man  in  character 
may  be  secured  by  the  combined  culture  of  mind  and  heart. 

In  the  earnest  prosecution  of  their  aims,  Beloit  College  has 
been  thus  far  administered  and  God  has  blessed  it.  For  the 
future,  Ave  ask  only  more  wisdom,  more  steadiness  of  purpose 
more  whole-souled  consecration  to  the  same  hio-h  aims. 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  11 


J&.  :p^_:p:e]:r,: 

On  the  Relation  of  Beloit  College  to  the  People  of 
Beloit  and  Its  Vicinity, 

BY    REV.    D.    CLARY, 

Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  from  the  Beginning. 

and  I  really  wish  that  I  had  more  time  and  ability  to  do  it  full 
To  me  and  to  many  others  this  is  a  topic  of  great  interest, 

justice. 

This  relation  might  be  contemplated  in  various  particulars, 
the  secular  or  financial,  the  legal,  the  ecclesiastical,  the  social, 
educational,  as  well  as  the  moral  and  religious ;  but  my  remarks 
will  be  confined,  mainly,  to  the  last,  viz.:  The  moral  and 
religious. 

Those  of  us  who  are  well  acquainted  with  this  whole  subject, 
can  easily  trace  the  relation,  in  all  its  aspects,  to  the  early  set- 
tlement of  the  place,  just  as  those  who  are  well  informed 
respecting  the  origin  of  the  free  institutions  of  our  country,  can 
trace  it  to  the  early  settlers  of  this  country  who  first  "  placed 
their  feet  on  the  wild  New  England  shore." 

Those  institutions  political  and  religious  and  their  concomi- 
tants existed  in  embryo  in  the  principles  and  purposes  which 
brought  them  here;  and  we  to-day,  with  all  the  people,  yes, 
(blessed  be  the  God  of  our  fathers,)  all  the  people  of  all  com- 
plexions and  all  nationalities,  enjoy  the  two  hundred  and  more 
years  developement  of  those  principles  and  those  purposes. 

So  when  a  colony  of  christian  families  and  christian  individ- 
uals, in  1837,  from  New  England,  located  at  Beloit,  they  had 
it  in  their  hearts  to  establish  the  institutions  of  religion  and 
religious  education,  and  here,  while  most  of  them  lived  in 
shanties  and  unfinished  houses,  they  built  a  house  for  schools, 
for  religious  meetings  and  for  such  other  purposes  as  might  be 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  people.     In  that  house  the  common 


IS  QtTARTKtl    CENTENNIAL 

schools  and  religious  meetings  were,  at  once,  established. 

As  soon  as  practicable  (1842)  they  commenced  to  build  a 
house  of  worship.  It  was  one  of  the  first  three  in  Wisconsin. 
In  the  meantime  a  charter  for  an  academy  was  obtained,  and 
as  soon  as  the  basement  was  sufficiently  finished,  the  academy 
was  in  operation  there. 

In  August,  1844,  a  convention  of  christian  ministers  and 
laymen  from  the  churches  of  Wisconsin  and  Northern  Illinois, 
was  held  in  the  first  Congregational  churchy  to  consider  the 
subject  of  establishing  a  college.  Trustees  were  appointed  and 
Beloit  was  selected  as  the  most  eligible  location,  and  the  citi- 
zens,  true  to  their  moral  and  religious  principles,  made  the 
most  liberal  offer  of  means  for  the  work,  accompanied  by  a 
pledge  of  continued  aid  and  especially  of  earnest  prayer  for 
God's  blessing  on  the  enterprise. 

Already  in  the  first  laying  out  of  the  town  plot,  had  the 
street  running  North  and  South  on  the  East  side  of  the  present 
college  site  been  named  by  a  kind  of  prophetic  instinct,  College 
Street. 

Thus  came  into  being  this  collegiate  offspring  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Beloit,  and  when  a  college  class  was  formed  of  five  young 
gentlemen,  it  was  placed  under  the  instruction  of  the  Principal 
of  the  academy.  (And  I  shall  be  pardoned,  I  am  sure,  for  say- 
ing here,  that  it  was  our  esteemed  friend  and  fellow  citizen  Mr. 
S.  T.  Merrill.) 

Here  we  may  see  the  origin  of  the  relation  of  Beloit  College 
to  Beloit  people. 

And  with  the  growth  of  the  college,  and  its  progress  toward 
maturity,  the  reasons  have  multiplied  for  regarding  the  rela- 
tion as  one  of  great  importance,  one  of  mutual  responsibility 
and  interest.  On  the  part  of  the  college,  we  have  the  moral  and 
religious  influence  of  a  large  number  of  Professors  and  teachers, 
all  of  them  christians,  and  most  of  them  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel. This  influence,  besides  being  given  to  the  two  hundred  stu- 
dents under  their  care,  one-fifth  of  whom  are  from  Beloit,  is  felt 
in  the  place,  generally,  and  in  all  departments  of  society.  The 
same  is  true,  in  measure,  of  the  large  number  of  earnest  christian 
students,  with  respect  to  their  fellow  students,  and  others  also. 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  13 

By  them,  for  the  most  part,  hare  been  gathered  and  sustained. 
for  many  years  past  the  twelve  or  fifteen  sabbath  Bchoole  in  the 

near  vicinity  of  the  place.  Morever.  through  the  influence  of  the 
college,  many  families  are  led  to  seek  a  residence  here  for  the 
purposes  of  education,  and  to  enjoy  the  society. 

And  with  reference  to  other  schools  from  the  primary  upward, 
it  appears  to  me  that  all  right  minded  persons  see  and  feel  that 
not  only  is  there  no  conflict  of  interests  between  them  and  the 
college  but  that  their  interests  are  all  in  one  direction,  viz.  that 
of  thorough  education  under  healthful  moral  influence,  and 
therefore,  that  a  true  friend  to  one  will  be  a  true  friend  to  all. 

Thus  much,  and  from  necessity  in  brief,  on  the  part  of  the 
college ;  and  on  the  part  of  the  people  is  it  more  than  reason- 
able to  expect  that  they  will  aim  to  throw  around  the  college 
their  influence  for  good?  Is  not  this  included  in  the  pledge 
given  at  the  outset?  Tis  true  that  but  very  few  of  us  were 
there  to  unite  in  the  pledge,  nor  were  we  present  in  that  old 
Hall  in  Philadelphia  when  the  "life,  fortune  and  sacred  honor" 
of  the  thirteen  American  colonies  (by  their  representatives)  were 
pledged  to  make  this  a  free  country,  but  what  friend  to  his 
country  refuses  to  come  under  that  pledge?  With  it  are  handed 
down  the  blessings.  So  the  pledge  and  the  benefits  of  this 
college  to  this  people,  have  come  down  together  to  us. 

It  was,  in  a  great  degree,  owing  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
a  large  number  of  christian  families  in  the  place  that  the  college 
was  located  here.  Beloit  was  complimented,  not  long  since, 
by  a  leading  christian  gentleman  of  Milwaukee  when  he  said 
that  "  Beloit  was  the  only  place  then  in  Wisconsin,  where 
there  was  religion  enough  to  have  a  college." 

This  was  intended  in  the  true  sense  to  be  a  christian  college. 
a  school  where  the  morals  of  the  students  might  have  special 
care,  and  where  those  who  desired  it  might  be  aided  in  prepar 
ing  for  the  ministry.  Hence  the  original  plan  of  the  Founder* 
was  to  have  the  students  board  in  families  so  that  they  might 
be  under  the  daily  influence  of  christian  homes/  and  that  plan 
was  not  given  up  while  families  in  a  sufficient  number  wen 
open  to  them,  and  at  such  expense  as  they  could  afford  to 
meet. 


lJf.  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

In  9,  company  of  two  hundred  (less  or  more)  young  men,  not 
all  of  them  yet  attained  to  manhood,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  expect 
much  difficulty  in  keeping  them  all,  and  always,  under  perfect 
control  ?  Despite  the  best,  the  wisest  and  most  judicious 
efforts  on  the  part  of  their  instructors,  irregularities  amounting 
some  terms  to  outbreaks  were  to  be  expected.  It  is  the  expe- 
rience of  the  oldest  colleges  in  the  land,  and  while  it  is  fair  to 
attribute  these,  oftentimes,  to  impetuosity  and  vicious  procliv- 
ities of  soma  students,  can  it  be  truthfully  denied  that  these 
things  are  often  traced  and  traceable  to  demoralizing  influences 
in  the  community?  and  is  it  uncharitable  to  believe  that  if  there 
were  no  intoxicating  liquors  sold,  and  no  other  places  where 
vice  is  nurtured,  there  would  be  less  evils  of  the  kind  alluded 
to?  At  any  rate  it  appears  to  me  that  the  experiment  is  well 
worth  a  fair  trial. 

But  to  the  churches,  the  professedly  religious  portion  of  this 
people,  the  college  looks  for  support  in  this  direction,  and  to 
christian  churches  of  all  denominations  this  appeal  ought  to  be 
confidently  made. 

The  college  is  neither  an  ecclesiastical  nor  a  sectarian  institu- 
tion. Students,  in  coming  to  it,  are  not  questioned  as  to  their 
denominational  preferences,  except  so  far  as  may  help  them  to 
decide  where  they  choose  to  attend  church  services.  That 
choice  once  made,  they  are  encouraged  to  pay  due  attention  to 
the  service  chosen,  but  in  all  respects,  the  utmost  religious  free- 
dom is  enjoyed. 

But  I  have  already  gone  beyond  the  ten  or  twelve  minutes  of 
time  allotted.  I  must  close  in  few  words.  While  calling,  as  I 
have  done,  on  the  people  of  Beloit,  irrespective  of  creed  or 
denominational  relations,  to  give  their  moral  and  religious 
influence  to  the  college,  I  readily  offer,  in  behalf  of  the  college, 
the  assurance  that  it  has  been  the  steady  aim  of  its  conductors 
in  time  past  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  and  I 
have  the  fullest  confidence  that  such  will  its  aim  be  in  the 
future; — and  may  we  not  all  unite  in  the  hope  and  expectation 
that,  by  the  united  exertions  and  earnest  prayers  of  both  the 
college  and  the  people,  it  will  be,  for  long  years,  even  ages  to 
com  \  a  blessing  to  the  people  here,  and  far  away,  to  all  people 
and  all  nations  on  the  Earth. 

• 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  15 


J±  PAPER: 

On  the   Inner   Life  of  the   College. 

BY    REV.    J.    COLLIE. 
Class  of  1851. 

Life  still  remains  an  occult  force  which  eludes  analysis,  a 
"  burning  bush"  beyond  which  the  Creator  does  not  permit 
scientific  investigation  to  approach  Him. 

A  consideration  of  what  we  figuratively  call  the  "inner  life" 
of  a  college,  leads  to  deal  with  its  most  fundamental  facts  and 
touches  the  roots  of  all  its  external  relations. 

Every  college  has  a  life,  a  spirit,  a  distinct  form,  yet  breath- 
ing through  its  government,  its  course  of  scholastic  and  scien- 
tific study  and  the  intercourse  of  the  members  of  its  community 
and  it  is  a  far  more  vital  question,  what  that  spirit  is,  than, 
what  are  the  institution's  facilities  for  mental  discipline,  for  un- 
less the  spirit  is  right  the  training  afforded  must  be  inadequate 
and  wrong. 

It  is  this  "  life"  of  the  college  which  settles  what  shall  be  the 
end  at  which  students  will  aim  and  toward  which  they  will 
practically  work.  By  this  the  character  and  measure  of  enthu- 
siasm, in  the  pursuit  of  learning,  will  be  decided.  It  is  this 
which  will  determine  whether  the  training  imparted  shall  lay 
hold  of  every  department  of  the  immortal  nature  or  whether  it 
shall  ignore  the  broadest  and  most  central  part,  and  thus  be 
partial,  unbalanced,  and  in  some  respects,  positively  injurious. 

This  "life"  may  be  of  very  dissimilar  character.  Each  insti- 
tution has  its  own  peculiar  tone.  The  limited  time  assigned  to 
this  paper  permits  to  glance  only  at  the  general  spirit  of  a 
Christian  College  and  then  to  attempt  a  comparision  with  what 
we  shall  find  that  to  be,  of  the  actual  life  of  this  honored  Insti- 
tution, the  young  mother  of  some  two  hundred  sons. 


16  QUARTER   CENTENNIAL. 

The  difference  between  a  Christian  and  a  non-Christian  edu- 
cation, is  not  one  of  modes  of  instruction,  of  courses  of  study, 
of  arts  and  sciences  taught,  but  a  difference  of  underlying  prin- 
ciples, of  aim  and  spirit.  The  two  are  more  widely  diverse 
than  the  Ptolemaic  and  Copernican  theories  in  Astronomy,  for 
these  disagree  as  to  whether  one  finite  object  or  another  is  the 
center  of  the  solar  system,  while  those  differ  on  the  question 
whether  an  infinite  or  a  finite  being,  God  or  man,  shall  be  the 
final  end  of  education. 

The  real  life  of  a  Christian  college  does  not  lie  in  an  earnest 
defence  and  inculcation  of  the  distinctive  truth  of  revelation, 
nor  in  the  regular  observance  of  the  worship  of  God,  nor  even 
in  cultivating  the  spiritual  capabilities  of  its  students.  Howev- 
er important  all  these  may  be,  it  does  not  by  itself  afford  the 
vitality  we  seek.  In  order  to  secure  that,  we  must  begin  with 
the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  all  true  education  proceeds  from 
God,  and  must  do  so  in  order  to  lead  to  Him.  That  it  is  not 
something  calculated  to  His  Kingdom,  being  adjacent,  yet  not 
of  it,  but  one  of  that  Kingdom's  central  forces,  a  power  that  is 
kindred  to  God's  creative  energy,  for  it  builds  up  the  whole 
being  in  the  fair  proportions  of  the  divine  ideal.  We  must 
accept  it  as  a  part  of  His  redemptive  work  in  that  it  sets  a 
supremely  worthy  object  of  life  and  culture  before  the  student 
and  gathers  about  him  the  most  pure  and  potent  incentives  to 
its  attainment,  thus  lifting  him  to  a  broader  and  worthier  life. 

A  Christian  college  then  is  a  Fountain  in  which  God,  with 
the  gracious  forethought  of  a  Father  for  the  want  of  his  children, 
has  stored  those  facilities  and  influences  needful  to  a  compre- 
hensive culture  of  mind  and  heart.  If  we  admit  that  coal-beds 
and  springs  of  water,  testify  to  the  providential  care  of  God 
for  the  physical  wants  of  man,  surely  the  human  agency  em- 
ployed in  building  up  institutions  for  invigorating  and  purify- 
ing immortal  minds,  does  not  warrant  us  in  denying  that  they 
too  are  ordained  of  God. 

If  then  a  College  is  to  be  Christian  in  spirit  as  well  as  in 
name,  its  Faculty  and  Board  of  trust  need  first  of  all,  to  put 
themselves  into  vital  contact  with  Him  who  is  the  Light  and 
the  Life  of  the  world,  that  through  them  the  college  may  root 


OP    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  17 

itself  in  God,  and  being  persuaded  that  their  institution  is  from 
God,  they  need  to  be  firm  in  the  purpose  that  it  shall  be  for 
Him,  and  this  persuasion  must  be  so  deep  and  this  purpose 
so  earnest  that  they  shall  be  willing  to  venture  the  expenditure 
of  their  own  life  and  the  success  of  their  undertaking  upon 
them. 

The  sentiment  that  all  true  culture  is  of  God  and  for  God, 
must  glow  in  their  life  and  be  carried  over  with  impressive 
power  to  the  minds  of  those  whom  they  are  treating. 

And  if  this  is  to  be  done;  if  divine  energy  and  blessing  con 
veyed  by  the  college  are  to  penetrate  the  life  of  its  students,  if 
the  college  is  to  be  a  cosmos  of  noble  aims,  of  clearer  light  and 
worthier  enthusiasm,  if  the  instructors  would  wield  the  full  force 
of  personal  influence,  so  potent  to  stimulate  and  guide  the 
young,  then  they  must  not  only  be  in  vital  connection  with 
Christ,  but  they  must  also  win  the  hearts  of  the  students.  In 
order  to  the  highest  results  of  even  mental  dicipline,  the  teacher 
needs  the  hearts  of  his  pupils,  much  more  than  to  give  that 
harmonious  training  of  mind  and  spirit  which  it  is  the  province 
of  the  Christian  college  to  impart. 

These  sentiments  are  expressed  with  the  greater  confidence 
because  they  correspond  so  nearly  with  those  which  have  pro- 
duced the  actual  history  of  this  institution. 

Beloit  College  is  one  of  God's  facts.  He  foreordained  it.  He 
inspired  those  prayer-cries  in  the  midst  of  which  it  had  its 
birth.  His  grace  which  quickens  and  purifies  both  intellect  and 
spirit  has  been  its  life.  He  awakened  that  prophet's  voice  in  the 
hearts  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  region  which  gave  them  no 
rest,  till,  from  far  over  the  prairies  they  met  and  covenanted  to 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  as  He  came  with  the  blessings  of 
learning  and  Heavenly  wisdom  to  enrich  and  adorn  the  youth 
of  coming  generations. 

He  wrought  that  self  consecration  in  the  noble  men  who,  in 
its  early  days,  identified  themselves  with  it  when,  as  yet,  it 
was  but  a  vision  seen  by  the  eye  of  faith. 

From  him  came  that  courageous,  persistent,  self  denying 
spirit  by  which,  through  these  years  of  wearing,  poorly  appre- 
ciated labor,  those  men  and  others  who  have  become  associated 


IS  QtJARTKK   CENTENNIAL 

with  them,  have  worked  on,  '•  by  faith"  "  preparing"  a  college 
"to  the  saving"  of  the  people.  As  doing  His  bidding  they 
have  been  launching  young  men  on  that  stream  of  Christian 
culture  which  flows  forever  toward  God,  and  blesses  the  world 
through  which  it  flows.  Here  the  aim  has  been  to  present  an 
object  of  life  not  connected  with  an  order  of  things  which  is 
destined  to  vanish  away,  and  which  is  ever  crumbling  under 
our  touch,  but  with  an  order,  substantial  and  eternal.  For  why 
should  a  soul  train  and  develope  itself,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  knows  of  no  aim  of  life  which,  in  the  sober  hour,  is  not  felt 
to  be  a  shadow  and  a  sorrow.  Or  in  other  words  the  aim  has 
been  that  the  student  might  know  himself,  not  only  as  a  thinker 
and  a  man  of  science,  but  as  God's  prophet,  having  cognizance 
of  things  unseen  as  well  as  those  visible  to  reason  and  sense. — 
To  hear  and  utter  the  voice  of  God  within  him  as  well  as  to 
read  the  writing  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  science. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  Beloit  its  students  have  found  min- 
gled with  the  very  atmosphere  of  this  hill  the  sentiment  that, 
Faith  in  God,  and  Faith  in  the  nature  winch  God  has  given  us, 
is  necessary  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  things,  that  are 
seen,  and  they  have  been  fortunate  enough,  here  to  be  brought 
under  the  influence  of  personal  character  which  is  a  practical 
embodiment  and  commendation  of  that  Faith. 

Amid  the  dissolving  confidence  of  men  in  everything  which 
they  themselves  have  not  devised,  which  so  largely  characteri- 
zes this  generation,  those  who  have  been  intrusted  with  the 
administration  of  this  institution  have,  while  "  keeping  abreast 
of  the  times'7  retained  their  faith  in  the  distinctive  idea  of  the 
American  Christian  College,  an  institution  which  specially 
makes  room  for  the  presence  and  power  of  God  in  the  unfolding 
and  molding  of  the  minds  which  He  has  created.  This  faith 
shaped  the  policy  of  the  college  irom  the  first,  as  is  indicated  by 
the  pledge  of  its  first  President, — happily  its  President  to-day — 
made  at  his  inauguration  twenty-two  years  ago,  to  give  his 
•'undivided  energies  to  the  building  up  of  this  college  for  the 
service  and  glory  of  Him  who  is  head  over  all,"  and  that  the 
institution  has  not  swerved  from  its  early  faith  and  purpose,  in 
this  respect,  is  emphatically  declared  by  the  same  writer  in  a 


OF   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  10 

recent  article,  from  which    we  quote,    "to  give  the  balance  of 
complete  developement  the  praise  of  noblest  manhood,  Cliri<- 

tian  truth  and  morality  need  to  be  infused  through  all  the    edu- 
cational process." 

The  indwelling  life  of  the  college  has  taken  on  a  practical 
embodiment  in  various  ways.  Members  of  the  first  class  within 
a  year  of  its  formation,  organized  and  conducted  two  Sunday 
schools  in  neighboring  communities,  not  enjoying  the  privileges 
of  the  sanctuary.  By  the  third  year,  four  such  schools  were 
formed  and  the  number  has  been  increased  in  late  years,  and 
on  some  of  them  the  renewing-  grace  of  God  has  been  richly 
bestowed. 

But  little  more  than  two  years  of  the  college's  existence  had 
passed,  when  the  present  Missionary  Society  was  organized  for 
the  twofold  purpose  of  inquiring  into  the  state  and  claims  of 
the  work  in  the  foreign  field  and  for  maintaining  neighborhood 
meetings  and  Sunday  Schools  in  the  vicinity  of  Beloit. 

As  one  of  the  results  of  a  marked  revival  in  the  college  a  few 
years  since  the  college  prayer  meeting  which  had  been  kept  up 
from  the  earliest  years  of  the  institution,  became  a  daily  meet- 
ing which  is  still  maintained,  and  this  "inner  life"  which  has 
been  rising  higher  and  becoming  more  full  from  time  to  time, 
in  the  history  of  the  college,  has  been  as  heaven  among  the 
favored  youth  who  have  been  gathered  here.  That  life  which 
is  not  capable  of  imparting  itself  is  not  of  the  highest  type. 
Beloit  College  has  imparted  her  spirit  to  her  sons. 

Here  the  inspiration  has  been  caught  which  has  made  young 
hearts  valiant  to  struggle  and  die  for  their  country  and  human- 
ity, and  on  this  glad  anniversary  yon  "Memorial  Hall"  carries 
our  minds  back  to  the  grand  years  of  conflict  for  national  exist- 
ence, back  to  the  grim  or  somber  scenes  amid  which  more  than 
forty  young  men  from  Beloit  College  laid  down  their  lives  for 
the  Republic. 

Here  that  devotion  to  Christ  has  been  kindled  which  has 
borne  some  select  spirits  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  carry  to  the 
dying  souls  of  men  some  measure  of  that  "life"  by  which  their 
Alma  Mater  nourished  them. 

And  so  this  "inner  life"  has  broken  forth,  to  pour  itself  in 


20 


QUARTER   CENTENNIAL 


streams  of  manifest  blessing  along  this  and  succeeding  ages. — 
Our  ears  have  heard  the  first  gurgling  of  this  outbursting  life 
as  it  leaps  from  the  fountain,  and  we  believe  that  we  shall  see 
that  stream  grow  broad  and  deep,  sparkling  in  the  light  of  that 
day  when  the  New  Jerusalem  shall  descend  from  heaven.  We 
expect  to  hear  the  murmur  of  its  flowing,  blending  with  the 
hosannas  of  a  world  redeemed,  when  the  life  of  Christ  poured 
out  upon  the  world  and  over  the  world,  shall  have  made  all 
thin  org  new. 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE. 


J±    PAPER: 

Reminiscences  of  Early  Bays  and  the   Financial 
Affairs  of  the   College. 

BY    PROFESSOR   J.    J.    BUSHNELL. 

There  is  perhaps,  a  kind  of  classic,  Homeric  propriety,  in  as- 
signing to  the  oldest  among  the  co-laborers  here,  the  office  of  sto- 
ry teller, — and  there  is  a  pleasant  suggestion  too,  of  modern 
Yankee  caution,  in  sandwiching  the  story  in  between  the  two 
ends  of  fifteen  minutes.  I  heartily  accept  the  situation,  howev- 
er, in  both  its  aspects  and,  as  these  reminiscences  are  to  be  per- 
sonal, I  shall  be  pardoned  if  they  deal  much  with  the  first  person, 
singular  number  and  nominative  case. 

On  the  27th  of -April,  1848,  I  csme  in  sight  of  Beloit,  as  the 
lumbering  vehicle  called  Frink  &  Walker's  stage,  rose  over  the 
crest  of  the  hill  to  the  ncitheast  of  Bcecce.  As  we  descended  the 
hill  and  drove  through  the  street  of  that  village,  I  saw,  for  the  first 
time,  I  think,  this  side  of  Cleveland,  a  diy  street  and  solid  road 
bed  of  mingled  gravel  and  sand,  and  my  ear  was  greeted  with 
the  unusual  sound  of  pebbles  grinding  under  the  ccach  wheels. 
I  shouted  at  once  to  the  driver,  "Is  Beloit  anything  like  this? 
Do  they  have  gravel  there  T  "Yes,  just  like  this,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Ah !  that  is  the  place  for  a  college,  then,"  said  I  to  myself. 

My  enthusiasm  for  gravel  will  be  understood  from  the  fact  that 
for  five  years  I  had  been  connected  with  a  college  in  Ohio,  con- 
fessedly first  in  the  West  at  that  time,  but  which  was  located  in 
a  region  of  pure  clay ;  rough  and  hard  to  the  feet  as  rock  under 
the  summer  sun,  giving  an  unknown  depth  of  mud  in  the 
winter  and  early  spring,  and  slippery  as  soft  soap  in  the  drizzles 
of  spring  and  autumn ;  and  the  crisp  sound  of  the  gravel  under 
the  wheels  was  pleasantly  suggestive  of  dry  walking,  and  clean 
boots,  and  pleasant  excursions  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  af- 


%Z  QUARTER    CEXTEtfXIAL 

ternoons,  and  all  that  free  out  door  air  and  exercise  which  is  so 
conducive  to  the  healthy  life  of  a  college; and  there  is  no  doubt, 
I  think,  that  the  dry  gravel  streets,  and  pleasant  walks  over  the 
firm  soil  and  gravel  bluffs  in  this  vicinity,  did  much  to  give  Beloit 
its  early  popularity  as  a  place  for  educational  institutions.  It  is  in 
these  respects  without  equal  among  the  small  cities  of  the  North- 
west. 

I  landed  from  the  stage  at  the  old  Rock  River  House,  late  in 
the  afternoon  of  April  27,  1848,  and  soon  found  my  way  to  the 
house  of  Rev.  Mr.  Clary,  then,  as  now,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  The  invitation  which  had  brought  me  hith- 
er was,  to  come  and  assist  in  the  preliminary  steps  for  the  organ- 
ization of  the  college.  I  knew  nothing  of  what  had  been  done ; 
and  the  first  thing  therefore  was,  to  know  the  ground,  the  means 
to  work,  and  the  community  to  work  for  and  upon. 

It  will  perhaps  be  a  marvel  to  the  future  historian,  that  Beloit 
College  began  to  be  a  college  upon  such  slender  means,  and  up- 
on so  narrow  a  pecuniary  basis.  A  few  inquiries  brought  out  the 
facts,  that  at  the  time  of  my  arrival  the  College  had  no  cash  funds ; 
that  its  only  resources  were  a  donation  of  lands  from  Maj.  Thos. 
W.  Williams,  of  New  London,  Conn.,  from  which  it  was  expect- 
ed that  $10,030  would  be  realized,  and  another  small  tract  of  land, 
sold  soon  after  for  $1,030.  Besides  these,  the  city  of  Beloit  had 
pledged  a  site,  and  the  erection  of  the  first  building,  and  two 
years  before  they  had  raised  for  the  building  a  subscription  of 
$7,000,  and  given  a  site  of^ten  acres.  Disaffection  to  the  enter- 
prise, had  crept  in,  on  the  question  of  slavery  or  anti-slavery,  and 
the  subscription  of  $7,000  had  dwindled  to  $5,000.  Of  this  sub- 
scription, $4,030  had  been  collected  and  expended  in  the  summer 
of  1847,  in  putting  up  the  bare  brick  walls  of  Middle  college ;  and 
the  remainder,  $1,030,  was  not  available,  as  it  was  subscribed  in 
labor  m  some  form,  which  could  not  be  used  without  money  to 
put  with  it.  For  six  months  preceding  my  arrival,  the  walls  of 
Middle  College  had  stood  floorless,  windowless  and  roofless,  with- 
out any  available  means  to  finish  it. 

Still  behind  this  enterprise,  thus  weak  as  it  seemed,  stood  the 
pledge  of  the  Congregationalists  and  New  School  Presbyterians 
of  the  region  northwest  of  Chicago  and  east  of  the  Mississippi 


OF    BELOIT    C()I.I-K<ii:.  23 

River,  unanimously  expressed  in  several  large  conventions,  to 
unite  in  building,  at  Beloit,  one  strong  institution,  thus  avoiding 
the  error,  so  fatal  elsewhere,  of  wasting  their  energies  and  means 
upon  a  number  of  rival  or  abortive  projects. 

But  slender  and  inadequate  as  the  means  of  the  College  were, 
it  had  already  made  a  beginning.  Five  young  men  had  been  fit- 
ted for  college  in  Beloit  Seminary,  under  the  instruction  of  Mr. 
S.  T.  Merrill,  and  were  organized  into  a  Freshman  class  in  1847, 
and  continued  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Merrill  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  Freshman  year.  This  was  the  beginning  of  Beloit 
College.  Mr.  Merrill  filled  worthily,  that  year,  the  positions  of 
President  and  Professor,  in  all  departments.  Early  in  May,  1848, 
Mr.  Merrill  transferred  the  instruction  of  this  first  class  to  me,  and 
it  remained  in  my  hands  a  few  weeks,  till  the  approaching  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  On  the  23d  of  May,  1848,  Prof.  Em- 
erson reached  Beloit,  on  the  same  errand  which  had  brought  my- 
self hither  four  weeks  before.  He  came  directly  to  my  room,  and 
almost  his  first  question  was,  "Can  we  have  a  college  here?" 
Having  had  some  experience  in  building  up  a  college  in  Ohio,  al- 
ready twenty  years  old,  and  still  in  peril  of  failure,  and  a  vivid 
consciousness  of  our  meager  resources,  I  answered,  "Yes — if  we 
will  make  it."  How  heartily  my  honored  colleague  accepted  this 
view,  and  set  himself  to  the  work  of  making  &  college  here,  may 
be  understood  from  the  fact  that  mere  than  $50,000  of  the  pres- 
ent funds  of  the  College  have  come  to  us  through  the  voluntary- 
constant  and  watchful  influence  of  the  Fmerscn  family. 

On  the  next  day,  the  24th  of  May,  1848,  was  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  After  assigning  to  Mr.  Emerson  the  depart- 
ment of  languages,  and  to  myself  that  of  mathematics,  the  press- 
ing question  of  the  time  came  up, — How  can  the  college  building 
be  finished  ?  It  had  become  apparent  that  very  considerable  dis- 
affection to  the  enterprise  had  been  developed  by  jealousies  and 
party  feeling,  even  in  Beloit,  that  the  friends  of  the  College  here 
were  somewhat  discouraged,  and  felt  that  they  had  done  all  they 
could  ;  and  the  weather  beaten  brick  walls  seemed  to  tell  of  a  com- 
munity that  began  to  build,  and  were  unable  to  finish.  Still,  the 
answerto  the  inquiry  came  back  from  the  Trustees  resident  abroad* 
and  from  the  new  Professors:     Beloit  must  fulfill  its  pledge,  and 


2£  QUARTER     CENTENNIAL 

build  the  first  building.  To  this  it  was  answered  that  Beloit  had 
virtually  redeemed  its  pledge,  for  the  site  at  first  contemplated, 
at  the  south  end  of  Mr.  Rood's  farm,  could  have  been  bought  for 
$500,  and  the  site  selected  was  worth  $3,000.  What  Beloit  had 
failed  to  give  in  a  building,it  had  made  up  in  giving  a  more  eligi- 
ble and  expensive  site.  To  this  it  was  answered  still,  that  Beloit 
was  pledged  before  the  world  to  give  the  site  and  the  first  build- 
ing ;  that  it  was  useless  to  go  abroad  for  funds  till  that  pledge 
was  redeemed,  and  that  a  new  subscription  in  Beloit  of  at  least 
$2,000  was  absolutely  necessary.  The  Trustees  resident  here 
knew  well  the  discouraged  state  of  feeling,  and  were  with  reason 
somewhat  faithless  of  success,  but  consented  that  the  new  profess- 
ors, somewhat  sanguine  and  self-confident  young  men,  should  un- 
dertake the  work.  One  of  them  therefore,  took  upon  himself  the 
work  of  instruction  of  the  college  class,  and  the  other,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  well  remembered  Deacon  Hinman,  the  most  po- 
lite and  pleasant  gentleman  in  Beloit  of  that  time,  commenced  a 
thorough  canvass  of  the  city,  man  by  man,  not  to  solicit  subscrip- 
tions, but  to  talk  College.  This  was  followed  up  for  three  weeks? 
till  almost  every  man  had  been  seen  personally.  Much  of  indif- 
ference, some  opposition  to  an  abolition  college,  and  still  more 
of  discouragement,  were  at  first  encountered,  but  as  the  visitors 
went  on,  from  day  to  day,  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  ice  was 
broken :  that  some  feeling,  some  curiosity,  some  hope  were  excit- 
ed. The  tide  began  to  rise,  and  by  the  latter  part  of  June  the 
way  seemed  to  be  prepared  for  a  public  meeting.  The  appoint- 
ment was  made,  and  the  same  method  was  pursued,  of  inviting  all 
to  the  meeting,  man  by  man. 

Of  course  some  planning  was  necessary  to  make  the  meeting 
successful,  but  so  fearful  were  the  resident  Trustees  that  the  peo- 
ple of  Beloit  would  feel  that  the  matter  was  crowded  upon  them, 
or  that  some  "  snap  game"  was  "  being  come  over"  them,  that 
they  refused  to  have  any  arrangements  made  to  take  advantage 
of  any  rising  excitement  of  the  meeting,  or  ask  for  any  subscrip- 
tions on  the  spot.  It  was  decided  that  two  resolutions  should  be 
offered,  tte  first  declaring  that  it  was  expedient  that  Beloit  should 
raise  $2,000  more  to  complete  the  College  building ;  the  second, 
that  a  committee  should  be  appointed  to  solicit  subscriptions  for 
that  purpose. 


OF  BELOIT  COLLEOK.  J." 

The  meeting  came.  The  fruits  of  three  weeks'  canvassing 
were  visible  in  a  house  well  filled  with  the  best  and  ablest  citizen-. 
The  young  Professors  made  their  maiden  speeches  in  Beloit 
Mr.  Ha/en  Cheney,  in  his  timid,  hesitating  manner,  moved  the 
rirst  resolution,  but  followed  it  up  with  about  one  minute  ofnuxt 
effective  speaking.  He  reminded  the  chairman  that  in  subscrib- 
ing $150  two  years  before,  he  gave  at  that  time  all  he  was  worth  : 
but  rather  than  have  the  enterprise  fail,  "I  am  ready,"  said  he, 
witli  emphasis,  "to  give  another  hundred  dollars."  Good  Deacon 
Hobart,  not  being  versed  in  the  proper  order  of  spontaneous 
movements  in  public  meetings,  here  rose  to  offer  the  second  reso- 
lution. The  Chairman  gently  reminded  him  that  his  time  was 
not  yet.  The  short  speech  of  Mr.  Cheney  seemed  to  touch  the 
right  chord,  and  his  resolution  was  adopted  by  acclamation.  The 
Deacon  then  arose.  All  present  knew  that  that  large  hearted 
man.  in  subscribing  $40)  before,  had  given  to  the  College  a  large 
percentage  of  his  property.  After  stating  his  motion,  he  remark- 
ed that  he  supposed  every  one  present  would  feel  that  he  had 
done  all  that  could  be  expected  of  him  ;  but  still,  rather  than  see 
a  failure  in  this  matter,  if  it  were  necessary  to  raise  the  sum  re- 
quired, he  might  be  counted  upon  for  another  hundred  dollars. 
A  third  person  immediately  arose  and  pledged  another  $103. 
The  Chairman,  Deacon  Hinman,  was  the  man  for  the  occasion. 
"Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  we  mii3t  not  pass  these  things  by.  We 
must  have  a  secretary,  and  take  down  these  pledges,  and  then  let 
this  beginning  be  followed  by  short,  pithy  speeches,  of  like  char- 
acter, from  all  quarters.  Let  everybody  be  free  to  speak,  and 
speak  to  the  point."  The  hint  was  taken.  Persons  rose  suC< 
ively  in  all  parts  of  the  house,  pledging  810'),  $75,  $50  and  $25. 
Mr.  8.  C.  Field  rose  and  said  that  he  had  no  money,  but  he  would 
give  16  J  acres  of  land.  It  proved  the  most  important  subscrip- 
tion of  the  evening,  and  was  sold  almost  immediately  for  $400  in 
cash.  The  volunteer  subscriptions  of  that  evening  to  raise  the 
sum  of  $2,000,  footed  up  about  $2,400,  and  a  thorough  canvass  of 
the  village  soon  carried  the  subscription  up  to  $  1,000. 

But  though  the  sum  necessary  for  finishing  the  building  had 
been  subscribed,  it  was  not  yet  paid.  The  following  winter  and 
spring  of '48-9  was  a  time  of  scarcity  of  money,  of  which  the  last 


SO  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

two  years,  hard  as  we  think  they  are,  give  us  no  conception. 
Wheat  was  about  "three  shillings  a  bushel,  and  dressed  pork  on 
the  street  lj  cents  per  pound.  The  work  of  finishing  the  build- 
ing went  slowly  and  heavily  on,  and  the  workmen  were  paid 
chiefly  in  orders  on  the  stores.  Except  the  $400  paid  from  the 
land  given  by  Mr.  Field,  scarcely  $300  was  collected  in  cash  from 
the  whole  subscription  ;  the  remainder  was  paid  by  orders,  labor, 
and  in  every  way  which  the  ingenuity  of  the  building  agent  could 
devise,  and  in  this  expensive  and  tedious  way  the  building  final- 
ly absorbed  nearly  the  whole  $4,000. 

In  some  of  the  emergencies  incident  to  the  erection  of  the 
building,  the  sum  of  $800  in  cash,  derived  from  the  sale  of  Major 
Williams'  lands,  and  sacred  to  invested  funds  had  been  used  and 
gone  into  the  building.  In  more  euphonious  language,  the  build- 
ing fund  was  debtor  to  the  invested  fund  $800.  It  was  very  evi- 
dent that  no  such  sum  could  be  collected  from  the  remnant  of  the 
subscriptions  for  the  building,  for  a  large  share  of  them  was  pay- 
able only  in  labor  or  materials.  Still,  honesty  to  Major  Williams, 
the  donor,  required  that  his  fund  should  be  made  good.  In  this 
emergency,  the  bright  idea  struck  the  inquiring  mind  of  the  build- 
ing agent,  that  he  might  build  these  subscriptions  of  labor  and 
materials  into  a  dwelling-house  which  would  be  soon  called  for 
by  the  increasing  population ;  sell  it  and  from  the  proceeds  replace 
the  malappropriated  funds.  The  lot  directly  south  of  the  college 
grounds  was  at  once  purchased,  I  think  for  fifty  dollars,  and  the 
house  now  well  known  as  the  Hinman  house  was  put  forward  im- 
mediately. Boys  were  employed  to  gather  the  cobble  stones 
from  the  bed  of  Turtle  Creek,  all  the  broken  brick  about  the  col- 
lege building  were  economized  to  fill  in  behind  the  face  work,  and 
all  labor  which  could  be  procured  upon  the  subscription  was 
made  available.  Into  that  building  was  built  with  his  own  hands 
a  subscription  of  $100,  from  our  old  friend  and  citizen,  Alex. 
Douglass.  There  Mr.  Chester  Clark,  one  of  the  large  family  of 
Clark  brothers  then  resident  here,  worked  out  his  subscription  in 
laying  the  cobble  stone  walls,  employing  therefor  chiefly  the  skill- 
ful masonry  of  the  editor  of  "the  Stumbling  Stone."  There  the 
Messrs.  Gates,  who  are  gone  from  us  now,  left  an  enduring  me- 
morial in  the  substantial  cut  stones  which  build  up  the  corners  of 
the  building.    About  $800  of  subscriptions  were  thus  worked  in- 


OF    BELOIT   COLLEGE,  27 

to  the  building;  it  cost  with  the  ground  $1475, — was  sold  for  all 
it  cost,  and  a  sunken  college  fund  was  replaced, — a  thing,  so  far  as 
I  know,  not  happening  before  or  since.  Would  that  we  might 
see  such  a  phenomenon  again  in  regard  to  the  Memorial  building. 

The  lapse  of  my  appointed  time  admonishes  that  this  rather 
minute  narrative  should  come  to  a  close.  I  have  limited  myself 
to  the  financial  matters  of  the  first  year  of  my  connection  with 
the  college,  because,  although  these  transactions  concerned  but 
trilling  sums  and  small  matters,  compared  with  the  ten  thousands 
and  one  hundred  thousands  subscribed  for  eastern  colleges  at  the 
present  day,  yet  they  were  important  to  us.  It  has  always  seem- 
ed to  me,  that  if  there  has  ever  been  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  this 
college,  it  was  at  the  time  when  Beloit  raised  her  second  subscrip  - 
tion  of  §4000,  and  the  success  with  which  that  effort  was  carried 
through,  inspired  courage  and  hope  through  all  the  time  thereafter. 

I  cannot  close  this  narrative,  however,  without  briefly  alluding 
to  one  thing  more  in  which  the  financial  events  of  the  years  '48 
and  '49  culminated,  settling  the  question  of  permanency  of  the 
college,  and  making  '48  to  '50  the  most  successful  period  in  that 
respect,  of  our  history.  During  these  years,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Hale,  cf 
Xewburyport,  Mass.,  a  lady  of  large,  liberal  heart,  and  possessed 
of  resources  which  had  already  been  felt  in  the  building  of  Andover 
Theological  Seminary,  and  in  every  form  of  Christian  benevolence, 
had  her  attention  directed  to  the  needs  of  our  infant  institution. 

As  the  result,  Prof.  Emerson  placed  in  my  hands  the  United 
States  patents  for  5,000  acres  of  lands  in  Coles  county,  in  eastern 
Illinois,  as  the  donation  of  Mrs.  Hale.  The  college  has  received 
and  invested  from  them  about  $35,000. 

And  now  in  closing,  permit  us  to  record,  with  devout  uprising 
of  heart  to  God,  that  the  early  instructors  in  this  college  were  not 
at  any  time  called  to  endure  those  privations, — and  harrassings 
of  debt, — and  heart  soreness  of  hopes  deferred,  which  have  enter- 
ed into  the  early  history  of  some  Western  Colleges.  From  the 
outset,  the  salaries,  though  small,  have  been  promptly  paid,  and 
were  sufficient  for  their  present  necessities,  and  the  early  work  of 
the  college  though  laborious,  was  not  trying.  Under  God's  fa- 
vor it  was  carried  forward,  with  an  elasticity  of  feeling,  a  buoy- 
ancy of  hope,  a  confidence  of  expectation,  which  made  all  labors 


28 


QUARTER     CENTENNIAL 


easy  and  every  burden  light.  It  was  for  us  a  harvest  work  from 
the  beginning,  calling  for  faithful  labor,  but  yielding  its  rewards 
abundantly.  Privations  and  sacrifices  indeed  there  were,  some 
on  our  part,  and  much  also  on  the  part  of  others,  whose  names 
are  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  Among  these  we  recall  as 
worthy  of  special  honor  those  generous  home  missionaries,  who 
set  apart  from  their  small  inadequate  salaries,  one  hundred  dol- 
lars each,  to  found  Beloit  College.  To  such  belong  the  dignity 
and  blessing  of  sacrifices, — ours  was  the  pleasant  lot  and  privilege 
of  joyous  and  successful  work. 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  29 


[Xote. — Peter  MeVicar,  D.  D.,  of  the  cla^s  of  1856,  Pn  sident  of  Washburn 
College,  Kansas,  was  requested  to  prepare  a  paper  on  the  relation  of  the  tol- 
lege  to  Christian  education.  As  his  engagements  lave  e\er  foilade  h's 
meeting  the  request,  President  J.  W.  Stiong  consented  to  speak  en  th:s  top- 
ic, in  connection  with  that  assigned  to  him.] 


.A.    PAPER: 

On  the  Relation  of  the  College  to  the  Church  and 
Kingdom  of  Christ ;  and  to  Education. 

BY    KEV.    J.    W.    STRONG,    D.    D. 

Class  of  I81S.    President  of  Carleton  College. 

A  full  discussion  of  these  two  broad  themes  is  not  now  neces- 
sary. The  fitness  of  that  culture  which  the  Christian  college  se- 
cures, for  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world  has  been  in  con- 
stant demonstration  in  this  land,  ever  since  our  fathers  founded 
the  first  New  England  college,  as  its  motto  declared,  "Christo  et 
ecclesice."  I  cannot  speak  of  this  culture  as  exemplified  here, 
without  involving  ideas  fundamental  to  our  whole  American  civ 
ilization.  It  is  a  chief  glory  of  that  civilization  that  it  began  in 
the  religious  instincts  of  man, — in  the  better  part  of  our  nature, 
— and  so  it  was  not,  nor  has  it  ever  been,  narrow  and  selfish, 
but,  instead,  broad  and  Christian  in  its  aim;  touching  at  eveiy 
point,  the  church  anel  kingdom  of  Christ,  involving  individual 
liberty  and  social  elevation,  and  therefore,  noble  and  far-reach- 
ing in  its  results.  To-day  and  here,  are  the  fruits  of  that  relig- 
ious impulse  manifest, — for  New  England  is  the  real  mother  of 
us  all,  and  whether  we  look  at  our  political  theories,  our  educa- 
tional systems,  or  our  religious  principles,  we  easily  trace  the  fea- 
tures of  the  mother's  face.  This  likeness  in  character  and  in  aim? 
makes  it  worth  our  while  to  call  distinctly  to  mind  to-day,  that 
primal  principle  of  the  Pilgrims,  which  secured  such  fruits ;  and 
what  was  that?  It  was  individualism; — freedom  of  the  indi- 
vidual conscience  and  opinion, — the  right  of  private  judgment, 


30  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

without  the  dictation  of  Pope,  bishop,  priest,  or  king.    And  what 
did  this  involve  !     Plainly  the  necessity  of  individual  culture, 
the  necessity  of  education  for  each  and  for  all.     These  two  ideas, 
— individual  freedom,  and  individual  elevation,  were  not  separ- 
ated either  in  their  theory  or  their  practice.     No  sooner  had 
they  erected  the  walls  of  their  dwellings,  than  they  began  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  school  house  and  the  church.     Education 
and  Religon  Avent  hand  in  hand.     In  their  esteem, — and  all  our 
history  affirms  the  same, — these  are  the  guardians  of  society,  the 
safeguards  of  the  State.    In  their  far-sighted  wisdom  they  perceiv- 
ed the  need  of  something  beyond  the  common  school,  and  so, 
early  in  their  history,  though  in  weakness  and  in  great  poverty, 
— as  we  read,  they  "  thought  upon  a  college."     There  is  nothing 
in  the  early  history  of  our  land  more  heroic,  more  touching  in  its 
story,  than  the  record  of  the  faith  evinced  and  the  sacrifices  made 
in  founding  the  colleges  of  New  England.     We  thank  God  that 
their  spirit  did  not  die  with  them.     Beloit  College  is  as  truly  a 
child  of  New  England  Puritanism  as  though  its  walls  were  stand- 
ing on  Plymouth  Rock.     It  breathes  the  same  spirit,  and  it  has 
the  same  aim  that  characterized  the  early  colleges.    It  has  inher- 
ited not  only  their  spirit,  but  also,  what  that  is  sure  to  secure,  a 
share  in  their  sacrifices.     As  did  their  fathers  before  them,  the 
"poor  wise  men,"  of  this  new  western  colony  have  toiled  and 
prayed,  giving  of  their  best  strength,  and  their  scanty  means  to 
build  up  a  college  "for  Christ  and  the  Church,"  and  tho'  often 
weary,  never  discouraged  ;  though  often  hindered,  never  falter- 
ing, until,  as  surely  we  may  now  justly  claim,  some  fruits  worthy 
of  their  faith  and  of  their  effort,  have  been  garnered.     It  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  that  a  college  so  founded  and  built  up  in 
prayer,  so  pervaded  from  its  very  beginning,  wTith  religious  ideas 
and  aims,  should  ally  itself  most  closely  with  that  work  which  is 
the  special  care  of  the  Christian  church.     This  has  ever  been 
manifest  here.     Though  never  a  theological  seminary,  it  has  tak- 
en special  delight  in  fostering  those  influences  which  tend  to  fit 
young  men  for  the  ministry  and  to  bring  them  into  it.     It  has 
aimed  to  be  distinctly  and  thoroughly  Christian.     Here  has  been 
recognized  as  the  grand  aim  of  a  true  college, — the  development 
of  a  symmetrical  manhood,  that  is,  a  Christian  manhood ;  that 


OF   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  31 

which  includes  moral  strength  as  well  as  intellectual  vigor, — the 
power  of  living  the  truth  as  well  as  expressing  the  truth.  Here 
the  fact  lias  not  been  concealed  that  man  has  a  moral  nature  as 
well  as  a  mental  power,  and  both  must  be  cultured,  or  at  best, 
the  education  is  only  partial.  Intellectually,  the  effort  has  not 
been  to  flood  the  mind  with  facts, — to  pile  upon  it  philosophic 
theories, — to  load  it  down  with  erudition, — but  rather  to  arm  it 
with  the  weapons  of  truth,  and  to  nerve  it  with  power  to  wield 
those  weapons.  Morally,  the  aim  has  never  been  to  bind  the  soul 
with  the  fetters  of  some  religious  formula  ;  to  make  it  pronounce 
the  shibboleth  of  some  sect  or  denomination,  nay,  but  it  has 
been  rather,  while  throwing  around  it  a  moral  atmosphere  ever 
stimulating  and  developing,  to  bring  it  into  communion  with 
those  grand  truths  of  matter  and  of  mind, — of  science  and  of  rev- 
elation, which  teach  us  our  true  sphere  of  duty ;  which  kindle  the 
fires  of  the  heroic  soul ;  which  bring  us  out  of  self,  and  plant  our 
feet  on  this  rock, — loyalty  to  truth,  yea  loyalty  to  Him  who  is 
the  Truth.  This  is  the  culture  which  the  age  imperatively  de- 
mands ! — the  culture  needed  to  counteract  that  sentiment,  too 
popular  at  this  day,  which  wrould  divorce  religion  from  education; 
— wThich.  if  it  only  could  make  a  man  an  intellectual  giant,  would 
gladly  leave  him  a  moral  dwarf.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
that  institution  of  learning  which  ignores  the  moral  part  of  man, 
and  cares  only  for  the  mental,  can  never  do  for  society,  what  so- 
ciety imperatively  needs  to  have  dene  ;  can  never  do  for  the 
church,  what  the  church  must  and  ever  will  demand. 

The  mightiest  human  agency  which  the  Divine  Spirit  ever  em- 
ploys on  this  earth,  is  mind  educated  and  consecrated  to  Christ. 
But  how  can  this  agency  be  secured  without  just  such  institutions 
of  learning,  pervaded  by  the  Christian  spirit,  as  that  planted  in 
this  soil  ?  As  Dr.  Kirk  once  said  :  "  There  can  be  no  perman- 
ent Christian  civilization  without  a  thoroughly  educated,  godly 
ministry,  and  there  cannot  be  such  a  ministry  without  the  Chris- 
tian college."  How  else  can  be  met  the  great,  the  pressing 
want  of  the  west,  yea  the  want  of  the  world, — the  want  of  a  thor- 
ough liberal,  Christian  education? 

For  twenty  five  years  Beloit  College  has  been  doing  what  she 
could  to  meet  this  want.     The  extent  and  value  of  her  work  are 


32  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

not  indicated  simply  by  statistics,  showing  how  many  of  her  sons 
have  entered  the  Christian  ministry,  for  her  influence  has  pervad- 
ed every  department  of  activity  ;  but  since  I  speak  particularly 
of  her  relation  to  the  work  of  Christian  evangelization,  let  me 
give  you  a  few  facts  proving  how  true  the  aim  of  the  college  has 
been  to  the  religious  design  of  her  founders.  From  the  first  the 
prayer-meeting  has  held  an  honored  jDlace  among  her  means  of 
securing  a  pervading  religious  atmosphere.  Some  of  us  well  re- 
member how,  a  score  of  years  ago,  each  Tuesday  and  Saturday 
night  a  little  praying  circle  met,  sometimes  in  a  chamber  above, 
and  sometimes  in  the  chapel  below  ;  and  how,  even  then,  the  Col- 
lege Missionary  Society  had  begun  to  turn  our  thoughts  toward 
personal  effort  for  both  home  and  foreign  evangelization, — organ- 
izing us  for  the  Sabbath  School  labor  in  the  outlying  country 
districts.  Not  a  single  year  has  passed  without  evidence  of  the 
Divine  Spirit's  special  presence  among  the  students ;  not  a  year 
without  the  commitment  on  the  part  of  some  of  them  to  a  relig- 
ious life.  The  influence  of  one  of  those  years,  1857-8,  when  wras 
organized  "  The  Beloit  College  Christian  Union," — whether  now 
felt  within  these  college  halls  or  not,  is  still  abiding,  as  it  ever 
will  abide,  with  many  of  the  graduates.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
I  doubt  whether  it  can  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of  any  other 
college,  at  least  in  the  west,  that  including  those  now  studying 
theology,  considerably  more  than  one  third, — more  precisely — 
about  forty-two  one-hundredths  of  all  the  graduates  have  turned 
toward  the  Christian  ministry.  This  includes  the  whole  of  two 
classes,  the  single  graduate  of  '52,  and  the  nine  graduates  of '59. 
Of  these,  eight,  including  one  congressman,  two  or  three  doctors, 
two  editors  and  two  connected  with  colleges,  have  left  the  active 
ministry  for  other  vocations.  Six  have  become  foreign  mission- 
aries, and  four  have  died.  This  does  not  at  all  include  those 
who  left  the  college  without  completing  the  full  course,  but  who 
yet  found  their  way  into  the  ministry,  and  are  honoring  the  col. 
lege  and  the  Master  by  their  sincere  devotion  to  it.  One  of 
these,  (Wells,)  after  faithfully  serving  and  suffering  for  his  coun- 
try in  the  time  of  her  need,  became  a  missionary  to  India,  where 
he  is  now  toiling.  Another,  (Harrison,)  whose  earnest  Christian 
spirit  the  class  of  1858  will  not  soon  forget,  chose  a  peculiarly 
self  denying  work,  and  is  honored  as  the  "  church  building  mis- 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  S3 

sionary1'  on  the  frontier, — having  himself,  while  preaching,  aided 
with  his  own  hands  in  erecting  some  thirteen  different  edifices  ; 
and  now  he  is  bravely  leading  a  colony  to  a  new  pioneer  work 
in  Nebraska.  Another,  (Johnson,)  of  the  same  class,  in  the  first 
half  of  its  course,  after  preaching  several  years  in  Illinois  and 
California,  entered  the  editorial  corps  and  is  now  on  the  Pacific 
slope  doing  manly  service  for  the  right.  Such, — and  there  are 
many  others  like  them, — should  now  have  special  mention,  be- 
because  not  being  among  the  graduates,  they  might  not  other- 
wise be  reckoned,  as  they  really  ought  to  be,  among  those  w^ho 
are  adding  to  the  fruits  of  the  college  in  the  work  of  the  world's 
evangelization. 

Of  the  Alumni  who  have  entered  the  ministry  and  who  are 
scattered  throughout  the  Union,  and  some  of  them  in  foreign 
lands,  time  forbids  my  speaking  except  in  the  briefest  general  re- 
ference. From  the  oldest  graduate, — honored  among  his  minis- 
terial brethren  in  this  State, — to  the  youngest  who  has  been  com- 
missioned to  preach  the  gospel,  they  are  a  band  of  laborers  that 
any  college  in  the  land  might  rejoice  to  send  into  the  vineyard 
of  the  Lord.  Their  labors  have  not  been  fruitless.  Our  Alma 
Mater  may  well,  with  gratitude,  recognize  the  work  which  the 
Kind  Father  of  us  all  has  permitted  them  to  do.  But  especially 
may  she  rejoice  in  her  relation  through  her  sons,  to  the  work  of 
foreign  missions.  The  last  has  been  a  notable  year  in  her  history, 
and  she  may  with  profound  gratitude  record  the  fact  that  with- 
in the  past  twelve  months  she  has  been  permitted  to  send  into 
the  foreign  field  more  sons  than  any  other  two  colleges  in  the 
land.     Surely  Beloit  College  has  not  been  founded  in  vain. 

What,  through  the  efforts  of  her  sons,  the  college  has  accom- 
plished in  the  cause  of  education  in  general,  has  been  closely  al- 
lied to, — indeed  a  part  of  her  work  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of 
Christ  The  interests  of  religion  and  of  education  are  in  perfect 
harmony,  and  the  culture  of  mind  and  the  culture  of  heart  ought 
never  to  be  separated.  Reforms  in  the  church  spring  from  edu- 
cated men,  as  the  examples  of  Huss  and  Wickliffe  and  Luther 
and  Calvin  testify.  Long  ago  Luther  said  truly,  "It  is  a  grave 
and  serious  thing  affecting  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  all  the 
world,  that  we  apply  ourselves  to  the  work  of  aiding  and  instruct- 


84  QUARTEH    CENTENNIAL 

ing  the  young."  History  teaches  no  lesson  more  plainly  than 
this,  that  whosoever  would  control  the  religion  of  a  people,  must 
control  their  education.  In  Austria,  at  one  time,  the  proportion 
of  Papists  to  Protestants  was  one  to  twenty-nine,  and  for  years, 
one  writer  affirms,  "scarcely  a  man  could  be  found  to  enter  the 
priesthood;"  but  in  one  generation  she  was  lost  to  the  Reforma- 
tion and  regained  to  the  Papal  hierarchy.  And  how  was  this 
done?  By  permitting  the  Jesuits  to  obtain  a  controlling  influ- 
ence in  the  universities.  So,  too,  was  it  in  Poland.  In  the  six- 
teenth century  the  Polish  diet  was  essentially  Protestant,  protect- 
ed Protestants,  printed  Protestant  works  ;  but  in  an  evil  hour  a 
Protestant  king  appointed  a  Jesuit  "  Minister  of  Instruction." 
He  filled  the  professors'  chairs  with  Jesuits,  and  soon  the  scale 
was  turned.  In  the  same  way  the  Jesuits  recovered  to  the  Pa- 
pacy the  larger  part  of  Europe  when  it  seemed  lost  to  them  for- 
ever. At  one  time  they  had  nearly  six  hundred  colleges  under 
their  control.  They  were  not  so  much  a  preaching  order,  as  a 
teaching  order,  and  by  educating  minds  they  have  governed  com- 
munities and  nations.  Such  facts  as  these  are  worth  a  whole 
volume  of  rhetoric.  The  sons  of  Beloit  College  have  not  been 
blind  to  the  importance  of  popular  education,  nor  backward  in 
their  efforts  to  promote  it ;  nor  have  they  neglected  the  claims  of 
higher  education.  Our  Alumni  are  represented  by  two  of  their 
number  in  the  Faculty  of  their  own  Alma  Mater;  by  two  also  in 
the  State  University  at  Madison.  One  is  in  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Whitewater.  Others  are  in  four  different  state  insti- 
tutions for  the  deaf  and  dumb ; — one  in  Wisconsin,  one  in  Illinois, 
one  in  Michigan  and  one  in  Louisiana.  Two  are  in  medical  fac- 
ulties in  Chicago,  and  two  are  connected  with  colleges  in  other 
states,  while  seven  others  give  their  profession  as  that  of  the 
teacher.  One,  now  a  member  of  Congress,  organized  for  Alabama 
after  the  war,  her  system  of  public  education.  Another,  who 
was  expected  on  this  occasion  to  present  more  fully  the  relation 
of  the  college  to  education  in  general,  was  for  six  years  State  Su- 
perintendent of  Public  Instruction  for  Kansas,  and  now  worthi- 
ly stands  at  the  head  of  Washburn  College  at  Topeka.  Another, 
(Alley,)  is  bravely  leading  off  in  a  new  college  enterprise  for  Ne- 
braska.    In  his  earnest  enthusiasm  he  says,  "If  I  can  do  a  little 


OF    BELOIT   COLLEGE. 

towards  patting  an  educational  institution  on  a  solid  Christian  ba- 
sis, the  embodiment  of  a  living,  active  faith,  to  be  a  power  for 
truth  and  good,  I  will  lift  up  my  hands  and  heart  and  soul  to 
God  witli  profound  gratitude/'  Has  not  this  the  genuine  ring 
of  Puritan  gold  !  .May  we  not  confidently  affirm  that  God's blc<< 
ing  will  abide  upon  him? 

But  I  may  not  further  particularize.  As  we  look  back  over 
the  past,  and  abroad  over  the  field  now  held,  we  can  but  recog- 
nize the  fact,  and  rejoice  together  in  view  of  it,  that  during  these 
twenty-five  years  there  has  been  wrought  a  work  not  only  for 
the  social  welfare  of  men,  but  for  the  honor  of  God  in  the  exten- 
sion of  Christ's  Kingdom  in  the  earth.  Let  these  friends  of 
Christian  learning  who  have  toiled  and  counseled  together  for 
these  years  gone  by,  gratefully  thank  God  for  what  has  been 
achieved,  and  with  increased  faith  and  earnest  zeal,  go  forward 
to  the  work  yet  before  them,  ever  looking  upward,  as  in  days 
past,  for  the  Divine  guidance  and  blessing,  assured  that  with 
these,  the  fruits  already  garnered  shall  be  but  the  beginning  of 
a  harvest, — to  be  gathered  as  the  generations  come  and  pass 
away, — which  shall  ever  be  increasing  in  the  abundance  and  rich- 
ness of  its  fruits,  until  the  reapers  are  done,  and  seed  time  and  har- 
vest shall  be  no  more. 


OF  BKLOIT  COLLEGE.  37 


[In  place  of  the  paper  from  W.  A.  Montgomery,  Esq.,  Professor  Emerson 
has  furnished  the  following.] 

J±  PAPBB: 

The  Relation  of  the  College  to  the  State. 

This  theme  was  assigned  to  Captain  W.  A.  Montgomery,  of 
the  class  of  1857.  Unexpected  and  imperious  business  prevent 
ed  his  presenting  a  subject,  which  he  had  already  illustrated  by 
able  and  faithful  service,  both  as  a  soldier  and  as  a  barrister. 
The  topic,  however,  is  so  essential  both  to  the  duty  and  to  the 
history  of  the  college,  that  it  cannot  be  wholly  omitted. 

While  the  college  is  intended  to  be  a  religious  and  literary  in- 
stitution, its  object  is  not  merely  to  educate  clergymen,  or  men 
of  letters.  Many  of  the  Alumni  are  in  the  medical  or  legal  pro- 
fession. Some  are  legislators.  A  considerable  number  are  ed- 
itors; the  same  disposition,  which  has  sustained  the  College 
Monthly  until  it  has  completed  its  eighteenth  volume  and  is  sec- 
ond in  age  only  to  the  Yale  Literary,  has  brought  the  sons  of  the 
college  into  leading  connection  with  journals  of  sectional  and  na- 
tional as  well  as  local  influence.  The  same  disposition  which  has  sus- 
tained the  College  Monthly,  until  it  has  completed  its  eighteenth 
volume  and  is  second  in  age  only  to  the  Yale  Literary  Magazine, 
has  brought  the  sons  of  the  college  into  connection  with  leading 
journals  in  the  centres  of  influence  in  the  State,  the  northwest  and 
the  whole  land.  Neither  should  we  forget  those  who,  in  unpro- 
fessional life,  are  illustrating  the  value  of  culture  united  with  the 
practical  activities  of  life. 

The  college  would  have  been  very  untrue  to  the  convictions 
on  which  it  was  founded,  and  would  have  studied  and  taught  the 
lessons  of  the  past  to  little  purpose,  if  itself  or  its  sons  had  been 
indifferent  to  the  great  public  events  which  have  marked  its  time. 
Those  events  have  had  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  education 
of  the  young  men  who  have  been  here;  and  the  college  itself  lias 
contributed  its  quota  to  the  great,  perhaps  the  decisive,  influence 
of  the  American  college  system  in  the  struggle  which  has  made 
liberty  the  law  of  the  Republic. 


38  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

The  college  began  at  the  moment  when  the  question  of  human 
right  became  the  leading  question  in  the  nation.  The  strife 
opened  in  Kansas;  and  while  it  was  in  doubt,  the  sons  of  Beloit 
were  there  with  voice,  vote,  and  rifle:  and  when  that  was  past, 
one  of  them  was  called  to  organize  the  system  of  public  education 
for  the  State,  and  now  presides  over  her  Puritan  College,  while 
others  are  in  positions  of  influence  in  conducting  her  destinies. 

When  the  war  spread  across  the  land,  the  sons  of  Beloit,  both 
at  the  college  and  elsewhere,  answered  the  call.  Of  perhaps  sev- 
en hundred  and  fifty  who  could  bear  arms,  we  have  the  names  of 
more  than  four  hundred  wh  o  were  in  the  field,  and  of  forty-six 
who  died  in  the  service.  Probably  full  reports  would  give  more 
than  five  hundred  soldiers,  and  more  than  fifty  who  gave  their 
lives.  They  were  good  men ;  more  than  half  of  those  who  lived 
were  made  officers;  more  than  half  of  those  who  died,  died  from 
wounds.  As  their  service  was  in  devotion  to  the  principles 
which  are  the  soul  of  the  manhood  which  the  college  aims  to 
train,  it  has  been  fitly  recognized  by  the  erection  in  their  honor 
of  a  "Memorial  Hall,"  which,  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
the  college,  was  made  complete  by  the  tablet  containing  the  roll 
of  martyrs.  It  now  stands  as  an  educator  for  their  successors. 
The  enthusiams  of  the  time  were  so  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of 
the  college  that  they  could  hardly  be  said  to  have  interrupted  its 
work.  Its  instructions  found  rather  enforcement  than  distraction 
in  the  events  passing  without,  and  its  order  went  right  on  with- 
out interruption,  except  that  one  commencement  was  omitted  be- 
cause the  graduates,  with  the  professor  of  Rhetoric,  were  in  camp 
at  Memphis.  As  each  call  came,  men  went  to  the  field,  and 
when  their  service  was  over  they  returned  to  ihe  college,  not  de- 
moralized, but  with  a  developed  manhood,  which  invigorated  and 
ennobled  the  whole  life  of  the  institution.  The  year  of  return, 
i  865,  is  marked  by  the  commencement  of  the  daily  prayer  meeting, 
which  has  from  that  time  been,  not  only  the  heart  of  the  religious 
life,  but  a  mast  important  influence  in  all  the  life  of  the  college, 
securing  harmony,  order,  study  and  general  health  and  truth  and 
growth.  The  same  character  prepared  them  to  do  good  service 
to  the  country  after  the  war.  One  was  called  to  organize  educa- 
tion in  Alabama,  and  now  represents  its  capital  district  in  Congress; 


or    BELOIT    COLLEGE. 


39 


while  others, by  teaching  and  oilier  good  work,  are  securing  the 

results  for  which  their  brothers  died 

The  military  record  of  the  college  illustrates  its  relation  to  all 
the  land.  Its  sons  were  found  in  the  regiments  of  nineteen  states, 
and  in  nineteen  states  or  territories  they  died  for  the  common 
country,  and  for  what  they  esteemed  the  common  cause  of  man 
kind.  In  coming  time,  may  the  nation  always  be  true  to  humani- 
ty and  to  truth  and  may  the  college,  in  that  cause,  always  be  true 
to  the  country. 


OF   BEL0IT   COLLEGE.  Ill 


_A_  PAPER: 

On  the  Hearing  of  College  Culture  upon  Profession- 
al life. 

BY    II.    P.    MEKKLMAX.  H.  1). 
Of  the  Class  of  1S62. 

Only  two  weeks  since,  did  I  receive  the  presidents  request  to 
prepare  a  paper  for  the  present  occasion  ;  consequently  my 
thoughts  have  been  put  together  very  hurriedly  in  the  uncertain 
intervals  I  could  command. 

The  subject  he  gave  me  differs  slightly  from  the  one  announced 
in  the  circular.  As  I  received  it,  it  reads  thus  :  "  The  bearing  of 
the  college  culture  upon  the  after  professional  life  of  the  student." 

At  the  time  of  the  first  world's  fair  in  London,  critics  said  that 
the  only  thing  in  which  America  surpassed  all  other  nations  was 
in  the  "rugged  utility"  of  the  articles  she  presented.  This  seems 
a  marked  American  characteristic.  We  demand  the  useful  in  all 
our  institutions,  and  I  believe  American  ideas  would  have  long 
since  abandoned  colleges  altogether  but  for  their  exceeding  use- 
fulness. 

Now  and  then  a  man  is  endowed  by  nature  to  such  an  unusual 
degree  that  he  grasps  the  foremost  place  in  any  profession  as  an 
inherent  right,  because  he  possesses  naturally  not  only  the  facul- 
ties but  the  ability  to  use  them,  which  the  average  man  has  to 
develop  and  strengthen  by  a  process  of  education.  These  are 
the  men  we  call  great.  I  can  imagine  Hercules  at  the  Olympic 
games  an  easy  conqueror  in  all  the  trials  of  strength  without  un- 
dergoing a  previous  course  of  training  to  harden  the  muscles  and 
to  increase  the  endurance;  and  in  our  own  time  a  Lincoln,  untu- 
tored by  the  schools,  steps  easily  to  the  foremost  place  as  lawyer 
and  statesman,  a  recognized  leader  of  the  nation.  As  there  was 
only  one  Hercules,  so  these  Herculean  men  are  rare  and  the  val- 
ue of  training  is  not  lessened  because  a  few  are  strong  without  it. 
It  benefits  these  more  than  the  others,  for  they  have  more  to  build 
upon.  It  is  doubtful  if  education  gives  any  new  faculties, — it 
gives  not  powers  but  power. 


4&  QUARTEK     CENTENNIAT, 

The  object  of  college  culture  as  I  understand  it,  is  to  develop 
and  strengthen  the  powers  of  the  student  and  teach  him  their 
use,  thus  making  him  a  successful  competitor  of  the  man  still  bet- 
ter endowed  by  nature  but  without  the  training. 

Disciplining  the  mind  has  always  been  to  me  a  very  indefin- 
ite expression.  It  can  perhaps  be  analyzed  writh  advantage. 
Probably  every  one  can  see  how  habits  of  industry  and  persever- 
ance may  be  the  result  of  the  college  discipline  and  how  mathe- 
matics may  teach  close  thinking  and  exact  reasoning.  Upon  these 
two  points  I  shall  say  nothing.  The  third  point  in  the  analysis  is : 
1.  The  college  properly  teaches  a  young  man  to  be  a  good  learner. 

The  thorough  investigation  of  one  subject, — it  makes  little 
difference  what  one  is  chosen, — does  more  to  form  a  habit  of 
thoroughness  raid  accuracy  of  inquiry,  and  to  teach  a  man  how 
to  learn  for  himself,  than  many  times  the  study  upon  subjects 
which  he  leaves  unfinished. 

This  is  a  valuable  point  to  make.  The  young  man  who  can 
take  up  a  subject,  be  it  in  law,  politics  or  religion,  in  science,  his- 
tory or  medicine; — like,  for  example,  the  cause  of  the  present  su- 
premacy of  Prussia,  or,  the  successes  and  failures  of  Louis  Napol- 
eon,— or,  the  prospects  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  this  country — 
the  young  man,  I  say,  who  can  take  up  any  such  subject  and 
carry  it  in  mind  for  months,  elucidating  one  difficulty  after  anoth- 
er, as  his  reading  or  his  thought  throws  more  light  upon  it,  un- 
til at  last  he  feels  that  he  is  master  of  it, — has  gained  a  power 
that  wTill  be  invaluable  to  him  in  any  profession.  Every  one  is 
aware  of  the  decided  advantage  a  person  has  in  learning  a  new 
language,  who  has  already  mastered  one  besides  his  own.  This 
is  because  the  faculties  used  in  the' study  of  language  become 
trained,  and  not  necessarily  because  of  any  close  similarity  between 
the  twro,  for  they  may  differ  as  much  as  possible.  So  the  power 
gained  by  thoroughly  investigating  one  subject,  enables  a  student 
to  grasp  others  and  diverse  ones  successfully.  In  professional 
life  a  man  must  beccme  his  own  teacher  in  whatever  department 
of  wrork  his  lot  may  fall, — he  has  to  choose  his  own  subjects  and 
the  best  methods  of  mastering  them.  The  untrained  mind  is  be- 
wildered under  such  circumstances,  and  looks  one  way  and  anoth- 
er, seeking  some  escape  and  becomes  very  ready  to  lean  upon 


OF  BELOIT  COLLEGE.  JfS 

any  help  that  may  appear.     How  important  then  that  he  should 

learn  how  to  do  this  work  before  necessity  compelled  immediate 
grappling  with  a  subject  in  which  his  interests  were  vital. 
When  the  need  comes  thus  suddenly  upon  one  all  unprepared  he 
may  attempt  the  work  that  lies  before  him  but  the  result  will  be 
crude  and  imperfect,  a  state  of  things  which  (however  unimport- 
ant in  college,)  he  cannot  afford  in  professional  life  where  vital 
interests  attend  his  labors.  Such  experiments  are  too  costly — 
his  early  practice  should  be  upon  less  expensive  material. 

I  remember  well  the  remark  of  a  fellow  student  who  had  some 
six  months  start  of  me  in  professional  studies.  We  had  been  en 
gaged  separately  in  the  investigation  of  the  same  subject  and  had 
met  to  compare  results.  At  the  close  of  our  comparison  he  said, 
"  I  wish  I  had  gone  through  college,  it  so  splendidly  helps  to  r/ef 
at  things. 

The  fourth  point  in  this  analysis  is,  the  college  teacl  es  to  form 
correct  judgments.  Throughout  life  the  most  incessant  occupa- 
tion for  the  thinker  is  the  solving  of  doubts  and  the  determining 
of  probabilities.  Every  one  remembers  the  story  of  the  Dutch 
justice  who  said  he  never  wanted  to  hear  but  one  side  of  a  case, 
it  was  so  much  easier  to  decide  then.  We  are  all  a  little  like 
this  justice,  it  is  easy  for  us  to  determine  when  the  evidence  is 
all  on  one  side.  Mathematical  certainties  are  pleasant  to  deal  in. 
but  the  certainties  of  life  are  few.  In  all  the  professions  and  in 
every  avocation  we  shall  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  uncertain- 
ties which  we  must  face,  consider  carefully  and  decide.  We 
must  determine,  for  example,  from  the  great  mass  of  conflicting 
opinion  what  we  wall  believe  in  religion;  we  must  choose  which 
side  we  will  take  in  the  great  public  questions  of  the  day ;  which 
in  politics; — whether  we' will  vote  for  Grant  or  Greeley;  and 
then  momentous  questions  of  duty  are  continually  arising. 

The  judge  on  the  bench  weighing  evidence;  the  physician  anx- 
iously combating  insidious  disease  ;  the  general  before  the  bat- 
tle contemplating  its  chances  ;  the  lawyer  at  his  desk  eagerly 
searching  if  he  can  turn  the  doubtful  scale  in  favor  of  his  client ; 
the  merchant  calculating  the  probable  changes  in  gold,  grain  or 
goods; — all  are  balancing  uncertainties  and  settling  doubts.  To 
teach  a  young  man  to  thus  carefully  discriminate  bet  ween  various 


44-  QTMMER   CENTENNIAL 

doubtful  points  and  to  come  to  correct  conclusions,  I  should  not 
exercise  him  in  mathematics,  nor  in  any  of  the  exact  sciences, 
which  deal  in  certainties  and  give  absolute  proof,  (I  should  expect 
such  studies  rather  to  weaken  him  in  this  direction, — for  when 
one  is  taken  from  a  realm  of  absolute  knowledge  into  one  of  un- 
certainties, he  feels  lost;)  neither  would  I  put  him  directly  into 
his  profession,  where  he  could  not  look  coolly — without  any  self- 
interest — upon  the  doubts  that  arise  thick  about  him.  Thus  sit- 
uated he  would  be  in  danger  of  twro  things, — of  becoming  one 
sided,  unbalanced,  a  partisan,  if  a  strong  mind:  and  if  not  strong. 
of  making  a  complete  failure.    Scylla  orCharybdis!  Few  escape. 

The  course  I  should  adopt  would  be  one  where  from  neutral 
ground,  with  no  self-interest  to  bias  him,  he  should  be  the  judge 
trying  eases,  commencing  with  easy  ones.  The  classical  and  lit- 
erary part  of  the  college  course  supplies  this  need  more  perfect- 
ly than  any  thing  else  I  can  conceive  of.  First  in  the  dead  lan- 
guages to  decide  the  probable  meaning  of  the  author  in  every 
sentence;  yes,  to  decide  the  best  meaning  for  every  word.  When 
familiar  with  these,  then  the  Socratic  thoughts — -the  dealings 
with  the  sophists.  The  various  questions  in  history — in  logic, 
determining  major  and  minor  premises:  besides  these  discussions 
and  preparation  of  papers,  metaphysics,  moral  and  social  science, 
all  afford  a  progressive  drill  in  weighing  probabilities  and  decid- 
ing uncertainties. 

We  come  then  naturally  to  the  following  conclusion:  That 
the  college  cultivates  (a)  habits  of  industry  and  perseverance. 
In  many  instances  where  students  of  medicine  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  my  associates  and  myself  to  their  earnest  working 
power,  we  have  been  pleased  to  learn  that  they  were  college 
graduates.  It  is  in  that  way  a  young  man  should  show  that  he 
has  cultivated  powers.  Some  have  erred  in  thinkii  g  their  col- 
lege course  would  save  the  necessity  of  continuous  exertion  in 
their  professional  studies.  This  is  a  grand  mistake.  This  course 
is  not  intended  to  prepare  for  ease,  but  for  efficient  work. 

The  college  cultivates,  (b)  Habits  of  close  and  exact  reason- 
ing, (c)  The  faculty  of  investigation,  teaching  how  to  be  a  good 
learner,      (d)  A  correct  judgment  upon  the  various  affairs  of  life. 

These  are  the  faculties  most  requisite  in  every  profession. 


OF    BELOIT   COLLEGE.  Jfi 

Iii  addition  to  these  acquirements  there  is  a  certain  variety  of 
accomplishments  gained  in  college,  which  prove  valuable  accesor- 

ies  in  professional  life,  a  few  of  which  only  will  I  mention. 
Some  aesthetic  culture  ;  a  degree  of  literary  polish  ;  a  certain 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek.  The  little  I  knew,  made  our 
medical  vocabulary  come  very  easy  to  me, — no  slight  help  I  as- 
sure you,  for  it  enabled  me  to  understand  lectures  from  the  very 
first.  In  this  connection  I  may  add  that  Dr.  Crosby,  chancellor 
ot  Xew  York  University,  says  that  a  new  word  learned  is  a  new 
idea  even  though  it  differ  but  slightly  from  those  already  known. 
A  rich  fund  of  illustration  also  can  be  drawn  from  the  classical 
and  scientific  culture  of  the  college,  which  any  public  speaker 
will  know  how  to  appreciate.  What  a  rich  subject  I  have  :  broad 
and  fertile  as  our  own  prairies.  I  can  but  plow  a  little  furrow. 
Thus  much  for  colleges  in  general,  but  they  differ  in  particu- 
lars. There  is  a  noticeable  tendency  on  the,  part  of  students  edu- 
cated abroad — whether  foreigners  or  our  own  countrymen, — to 
allow  authority  to  take  the  place  of  independent  thought.  "  The 
Professor  said  so,"  is  with  them  an  ultimatum.  We  see  it  con- 
tinually in  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  for  this  reason  even 
learned  German  physicians  rarely  hold  their  own  by  the  side  of 
ours,  although  they  require  a  seven  years'  course  of  study 
against  our  three.  These  doctors  continually  inquire  what  do  the 
books  say  this  disease  is ;  or  how  would  my  old  professor  treat 
this  affection  ?  Imitation  is  a  characteristic  of  European  thought 
more  than  of  American,  though  I  was  recently  informed  that  an 
eminent  professor  at  Yale  announced  himself  as  there  to  give  in- 
struction and  not  to  answer  questions.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
used  to  encourage  his  sons  in  discussion  with  himself  and  would 
rejoice  wmen  they  had  the  best  of  the  argument.  Such  training 
helped  to  make  the  Beechers  what  they  are.  And  such  training  is 
what  many  of  us  remember  to  have  received  in  these  halls.  May 
it  be  long  before  intelligent  inquiry  is  repressed  at  Beloit  College. 


OF    BELOiT   COLLEGE.  Jf7 


-A_  PAPER: 

On  the  Future  of  the  College. 

BY    PROF.     J.    J.    BLAISDELL. 

The  centre  of  that  large  and  generous  outlook,  which  caused 
the  fathers  of  the  college  to  be  so  earnest  in  giving  it  being,  was 
the  great  moral  conflict  to  be  waged  in  these  regions.  They  had 
entered  the  northwest  as  champions  of  the  Christian  struggle, 
and  knowing,  as  all  good  men  know,  their  own  insufficiency  and 
that  they  must  soon  leave  the  field,  they  had  it  in  their  thought 
to  found  here  an  institution  for  preparing  men  who  should  be 
masters  of  mind  in  whatever  of  the  occupations — the  ministry 
especially — there  should  be  occasion  for  in  the  growing  life  of 
society.  Men  for  Christian  service,  with  no  lack  of  physical  fit- 
ness and  intellectual  training,  especially  brought  to  truth  and 
strength  of  character — something  of  this  description  was  the 
burden  of  the  prayers  and  purposes  in  which  the  college  originated. 

Here  then,  presumptively  at  least,  must  be  found  an  answer 
to  any  inquiry  respecting  the  Future  of  the  college.  Inconsist- 
ent is  it  ever  with  the  continuity  of  any  organic  structure, wheth- 
er institution  or  human  being,  to  alter  the  fundamental  principle 
of  its  life.  If  you  make  the  change,  as  indeed  you  may,  it  is  a 
revolution  so  profound  as  to  wrench  the  future  away  from  the 
past. and,  as  at  that  moment  a  new  life  begins,  you  must  call  the 
new  structure  by  another  name. 

Perhaps,  however,  from  suspicion  of  failure  adequately  to  ac- 
complish such  result  may  arise  a  thought  that  possibly  the  college 
had  better  receive  another  aim.  May  it  not  be  wise  to  omit  in 
part  the  downrightness  of  its  Christian  policy,  and  by  losing 
something  of  its  explicitness  save  something  of  its  life.  In  the 
twenty-five  years  now  closing,  besides  the  very  much  larger 
number  who  have  received  its  less  measurable  influence,  the  col- 
lege has  graduated  175  young  men  ;  of  these,  in  the  last  seven 
years,  86.     Of  these  175,  it  is  not  known  that  all  of  them  have 


Jf.8  QUABTKB    CENTENNIAL 

not  been  true  and  effective  in  bringing  into  the  control  of  socie- 
ty those  general  principles  which  condition  its  welfare.  Many 
of  them  have  been  in  circumstances  where  they  have  met  the 
pressure  of  heavy  onset,  have  carried  jthemselves  with  great 
steadfastness  in  behalf  of  truth,  and  have  largely  contributed, 
sometimes  with  their  lives,  to  its  triumphs.  Out  of  these  175 
graduates  of  the  college,  135  have  been  avowedly  Christian  men, 
and  have  gone  into  the  field  with  the  purpose  of  identifying 
themselves  with  the  interests  of  the  highest  truth.  Of  these 
many  are  doing  service  in  other  professions,  while  seventy  are 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  seven  are  already  engaged  in  the 
work  of  Foreign  Missions.  Certainly  if  it  be  desirable  to  be  less 
explicit  as  a  Christian  school  hereafter,  it  must  be  for  other  reas- 
ons than  because  satisfactory  results  have  not  attended  the  poli- 
cy hitherto  pursued. 

But  if  not  for  lack  of  real  success,  perhaps  for  other  reasons  it 
may  be  thought  best  to  shape  the  policy  of  the  institution  more 
nearly  into  conformity  with  general  systems  of  education.  In 
short,  will  you  make  it  less  a  school  for  training  young  men  to 
do  telling  Christian  work  1  Will  you  cease  to  make  Aeschylus 
and  Plato  a  point  of  departure  for  opening  up  to  the  young  the 
Desired  of  all  nations  1  There  are  some  plausible  reasons  for 
this.  There  is  a  prevailing  drift  towards  the  neutralizing  of  these 
Christian  features.  In  certain  circumstances  it  wrould  ensure 
greater  ostensible  results.  It  would  certainly  disarm  some  preju- 
dices.    The  change  is  not  without  noteworthy  examples. 

Here  then,  perhaps,  is  the  most  fitting  place  to  say,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  view'  taken  by  those  who  administer  the  college, 
in  this  distinctively  Christian  work  the  college  has  its  essential 
significancy  and  value.  Take  out  of  the  legend  on  its  seal,  "Sci- 
entia  vera  cum  fide  pura"  the  last  three  words,  .and  the  college 
drops  out  of  the  peculiar  desirableness  of  its  mission  and  ceases 
to  answer  the  profoundest  wants  of  this  great  West. 

Far  be  it  from  any  of  us  to  place  a  low  estimate  upon  the  pub- 
lic system  of  instruction,  which,  proceeding  upon  a  compromise 
of  religious  preferences,  leaves  to  other  agencies  the  office  of  re- 
ligious instruction.  But  is  it  not  of  the  alphabet  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  Christian  men  and  women,  that  the  youth  whom  they 


OF  BELOIT  COLLEGE.  #* 

can  influence  should  have  their  mental  culture  wrought  out  upon 
the  revealed  Christ  as  its  informing  principle,  and  that  this  can- 
not be  done  but  by  Christian  teachers  in  Christian  schools? 
How  without  a  supply  of  men  thus  forged,  can  the  truth  be 
brought  into  effective  operation  in  society  !  And  has  not  the  his 
tory  of  society  taught  this  at  least  to  those  who  medicine  its  ills, 
that  without  the  inworking  of  Christ  there  can  be  for  society  no 
ultimate  recovery?  What  other  inference  do  we  reach  than  this 
that  there  must  be  Christian  colleges — colleges  which  are  Chris- 
tian— to  furnish  Christian  workers  ! 

The  conclusion  in  regard  to  our  future  is  plain.  We  must  re- 
main a  Christian  school.  As  such  we  must  look  to  the  friends 
of  human  good  for  pecuniary  support  and  patronage.  They 
must  cherish  it,  defend  it,  furnish  to  it  their  sons.  When  you 
sent  your  sons  to  the  war  of  liberty,  it  touched  you  to  the  quick 
if  you  found  that  they  were  wanting  for  bread  or  arms  or  oppor- 
tunity. You  have  sent  this  college  to  the  front;  maintain  it  in 
the  condition  of  effective  battle. 

There  is  no  ambition  concerning  the  college  which  would  at 
length  recast  it  in  the  form  of  a  university,  in  which  instruction 
should  be  furnished  for  the  several  professions.  So  vast  are  the 
changes  to  take  place  in  the  coming  hundred  years  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  that,  no  alteration  of  this  kind  is  too  great  to  be  with- 
in the  range  of  possibility.  Bat  certainly  no  demands  at  present 
existing  furnish  occasion  for  extending  the  collegiate  basis  or  di- 
recting energy  to  other  objects. 

The  same  principle  suggests  also  what  mast  be  the  policy  of 
the  institution  in  regard  to  allowing  the  student  freedom  in  the 
selection  of  his  studies.  Our  humble  and  unpretending  work  is 
to  take  into  our  midst  youth  unacquainted  with  themselves  and 
their  ultimate  .tastes  and  fitness,  and  by  protracted  trial  evolve 
their  latent  forces  and  proportions  of  intellect  feeling  and  will, 
until,  we  knowing  them  and  they  knowing  themselves,  they  are 
qualified  to  choose  intelligently  what  they  had  better  study  and 
what  do.  There  are  two  distinct  periods  in  life,  the  period  of 
youth  and  the  period  of  manhood,  the  law  of  the  first  being  ignor- 
ance of  self,  that  of  the  second  self  knowledge.  It  has  been  and 
is  the  belief  of  the  college  that  when  a  young  man  really  knows 


60  QtAfcTEn  cf&rf&RJrtAt 

what  studies  he  had  better  pursue,  the  time  has  come  for  him  to 
receive  his  diploma. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  from  a  pardonable  enthusiasm  in  pursuing 
the  single  object  chosen  at  the  outset  that  the  college  has  failed 
to  feci  the  force  of  reasons  urged  for  combining  the  sexes  in  col- 
legiate life.  To  train  young  men  for  service  was  the  problem  the 
administrators  of  the  college  assumed.  It  has  seemed  to  them 
inclusive  enough,  noble  enough,  difficult  enough,  to  task  their  ut- 
most energies.  The  measure  of  success  granted  them  has  rein- 
forced the  belief  in  them  that  their  work  was  legitimate  and  c;ood. 

Be  it  understood  we  share  in  no  antagonism  with  institutions 
which  pursue  the  policy  mentioned.  We  honor  the  men  who 
conduct  them  as  brothers  in  the  one  good  work.  Perhaps  the  ex- 
periment may  sei  ve  for  good  results.  It  is  likely  that  for  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  educational  culture  it  may  pass  into  a  permanent 
policy.  But  for  us,  assuredly  it  would  widen  the  work  of  the 
college  and  so  make  it  less  concentrated.  It  would  complicate 
the  work  if  it  would  be  discriminating.  If  it  complicates  the 
work,  it  makes  equal  success  more  costly  and  doubtful.  If  it  be 
not  discriminating  and  individualizing,  it  is  of  far  less  value. 
Certainly  it  leaves — there  is  nothing  in  it  so  imperative  as  not  to 
leave — room  for  narrower  and  more  concentrated  work  according 
to  our  original  conception.  With  a  heart  therefore  open  to  the 
efforts  of  all  who  make  careful  experiments  in  a  different  diree* 
we  may  probably  forecast  the  future  of  the  college  as  not  differ- 
ing in  the  particular  in  question  essentially  from  its  past. 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  a  chief  feature  of  the  future  of  the 
institution  must  be  the  continuance  and  perfecting  of  the  relations 
which  existed  in, the  beginning.  A  body  of  instructors  furnish 
the  mould  of  a  policy  and  stand  ready  to  apply  the  processes  by 
Which  young  minds  are  formed.  But  the  good  men  and  women 
of  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and  New  England,  by  supplying  the  need- 
ed pecuniary  means,  by  sending  hither  their  sons  and  inducing 
others  to  send  theirs,  by  pouring  in  upon  the  college  the  flood  of 
their  sympathy  and  by  the  mighty  ministry  of  prayer  have  filled 
the  mould  of  that  policy  and  have  put  under  these  waiting  process- 
es the  material.  Need  we  say  that  such  embosomment  of  the 
college  in  the  faith  of  the  churches  must  be  the  main  element  of 


OF    BELOIT    COTXEGB.  51 

any  future  we  contemplate.  In  respect  to  the  past  alumni  ofthe 
college  at  least  we  arc  secure.  It  is  not  a  thing  to  be  feared  that 
they  will  ever  lose  their  interest  in  the  mother  who  cherished 

them.  The  tokens  of  their  affection  are  too  many  to  admit  of 
this.  The  faces  we  meet  to-day  and  their  answers  to  our  saluta- 
tions confirm  our  confidence.  We  hasten  to  assure  ourselves 
that  it  will  be  the  same  with  all:  that  with  those  who  support  the 
college  and  with  us  who  administer  it,  the  future  may  be  one  of 
confidence,  of  affection,  of  mutual  intercourse,  of  interpenetrating 
life.  With  a  future  such  as  this,  a  work  mightier  than  we  dream 
of  to-day  will  be  our  final  record. 

The  other  of  the  two  features  that  must  determine  the  desired 
efficiency  of  the  college  is,  that  there  be  present  to  do  the  work 
of  education  men  possessed  of  highest  personal  attainment,  intel- 
lectual and  moral,  in  the  organic  form  of  character;  men  of  the 
first  excellence  in  science  and  literature,  abundantly  gifted  with 
the  ability  of  engaging,  quickening  and  guiding  the  young;  such 
teachers  receiving  out  of  their  homes  numerous  youth,  and  by 
their  own  mighty  life  evoking  all  the  latent  powers  of  good  with- 
in them;  the  fathers  ot  many  sons,  bearing  the  family  likeness 

sons  of  God. 

Such  is  our  view  concerning  the  future  of  Beloit  College.  By 
the  steady  application  of  forces  already  committed  to  the  enter- 
prise, the  present  number  of  students  tripled  or  quadrupled,  these 
subjected  to  all  the  methods  ofthe  most  vigorous  and  complete 
collegiate  culture,  moving  about  amid  the  multiplying  monuments 
of  a  pure  art,  and  all  the  excellent  beauties  of  nature,  especially  where 
virtue  has  her  memorials  and  living  exemplars,  with  the  Spirit 
of  God  continually  brooding  over  them,  growing  deep  and  strong 
and  patient  in  the  presence  of  great  truths,  learning  at  length 
what  they  themselves  are,  their  weakness,  their  strength,  their 
destiny  and  their  duty— and  then  going  out  by  classes  of  fifty, 
year  by  year,  into  the  field  which  is  the  world,  to  do  what  God 
wishes  them  to  do — in  the  ministry,  in  the  law,  in  the  place  of 
sieknes<  and  pain,  in  literature  and  art,  by  the  press, in  mechan- 
ics, in  agriculture,  in  statesmanship — such  a  future  we  contem- 
plate. Of  such  a  future  we  already  have  an  earnest.  Suchafu- 
ture  seems  almost  in  our  grasp.  The  age  needs  it  for  us.  God 
wishes  it.     Each  one.  true  to  his  responsibility,  we  shall  have  it. 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  58 


.A.   PAPER: 

The  Mutual  Relations  Between  the  Colleges  and  the 
Churches. 

BY    REV.    LYMAN    WHITING,    D.    D., 

Of  Janesville,  Wis. 

Mr.  President:  The  terms  in  the  title  of  the  argument  you 
have  assigned  to  me,  go  far  in  making  the  plea  which  ought  to 
be  made, in  this  closing  commemorative  utterance.  The"mutu- 
al  obligations," — may  I  term  them? — are  either,  a  great  assump- 
tion, or  a  great  concession,  as  between  the  colleges  and  the 
churches.  Do  the  churches  and  the  colleges  confess  the  relations? 
Does  not  our  national  history  demonstrate  that  these  "relations'" 
have  been  vitalities  between  them,  and  so  the  "relations"  have 
become  obligations?  Permit  me  so  to  call  them,  the  "mutual 
obligations,"  as  a  definition  of  their  "relations."  Now  mutual  ob- 
ligations have  this  peculiarity  ;  viz.,  a  power  of  mutual  enforce- 
ment resides  along  with  the  obligation ;  for  neither  claimant  can 
expect  anything,  until  he  has  rendered  something;  because  that 
which  he  renders,  is  the  foundation  of  the  means  to  give  that 
which  he  claims ;  and  so,  if  either  one  gives  nothing,  no  right  in- 
heres to  claim  anything.  So  then  the  relation  or  obligation 
which  is  "mutual, "puts colleges  and  churches  upon  the  same  foot- 
ing; both  claimants  upon  each  other;  and  to  the  same  extent, 
both  debtors  to  each  other.  As  these  relations  are  moral,  they 
come  at  once  into  line  with  the  glorious  governmental  plan  of 
the  ever-blessed  God.  It  is  briefly  this  :  getting  good,  is  always 
to  come  by  doing  good.  This  underlies  the  whole  moral  plan  of 
God  for  this  w^orld.  Getting,  inseparably  fastens  to  doing, — when 
good  is  the  coupler.  Never  can  real  good  be  gotten,  unless  real 
good  is  done ;  and  in  blessed  converse,  never  is  real  good  done, 
but  as  real  a  good  goes  from  it  to  the  doer.  No  act  with  a  good 
issue  to  one  alone  is  possible,  to  the  actor  alone,  or  to  the  receiv- 
er of  the  action,  alone.  Reciprocity  overspreads,  infuses  with 
perpetual  and  inevitable  commixture,  the  realm  of  moral  acts. 
That  business  or  scheme,  giving,  good  or  profit  to  one  person  or 


5Jf,  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

party  only  (and  such  there  are,)  is  a  nefarious,  an  inevitably  per- 
nicious thing,  (e.  g.  the  liquor  traffic  in  this  country;  thuggery 
in  India  ;  great  and  rapid  gain  to  the  dealers  ;  hideous  death  to 
the  victims.)  That  supreme  good  act  of  the  moral  universe, — 
Jesus  Christ's  atonement, — has  in  it  infinite  reciprocity ;  infinite 
glory  to  the  Godhead,  and  eternal  glory  to  the  redeemed.  One 
measures  the  other. 

So  the  colleges, — this  preeminently,  as  a  child  of  the  churches, 
— gets  as  it  gives,  and  gives  as  it  gets,  good  from  them.  Trace  it. 
The  churches  first  do  the  royal  good  work  of  founding  it, — 
giving  it  an  existence, — a  location  ;  a  body  through  which  to  live, 
move  and  have  its  being.  Out  of  its  very  first  class  goes  back 
to  the  churches,  a  prepared  gift  of  piety  and  of  culture,  worth 
alone  all  costs  up  to  this  time,  and  which  reminds  one  of  the 
mustard-seed,  with  branches  for  the  birds,  and  seed-pods  for  re- 
producing itself  athwart  the  globe.  Each  soul  that  has  been,  or 
shall  be  led  to  Christ  in  that  life-time,  is  a  return  gift  to  the  churches 
for  their  service  in  giving  the  college  an  existence.  Out  of  each 
of  the  twenty-one  other  companies  of  educated  youth,  this  church- 
planted  college  has  bestowed  upon  the  world,  have  been  gifts  to 
the  churches  of  pastoral  service  for  which  we  have  no  scale  of  es- 
timation. What  is  one  regenerated  soul  worth — even  in  this 
world, — when  it  reproduces  itself  by  the  conversion  of  others,  and 
they  in  turn  repeat  their  divine  birth  in  growing  numbers,  and 
these  in  ever  swelling  progression  multiply  the  "  sons  of  God," 
until  the  final  expansions  are  millions  of  regenerated  souls,  and 
all  the  boundless  benefits  of  their  Christian  life  to  every  good 
thing  in  society  and  the  world,  can  be  accredited  to  the  one  new- 
born soul,  in  whom  began  the  process  Try  the  estimate  upon 
such  college  converts  as  Whitefield,  the  Wesleys,  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, Henry  Martyn,  Gordon  Hall  and  hundreds  like  them,  who, 
if  in  less  eminence,  in  no  less  distinctness,  have  begun  careers  in 
college,  which  have  made  them  to  be  like  stars  in  the  firmament. 
Out  of  this  college  how  many  have  already  gone  just  like  them 
in  spirit  and  in  heroic  labors  1  To  visit  them  all,  you  must  liter- 
all  v  circumnavigate  this  globe.  To  calculate  their  worth  to  the 
world,  you  need  the  computations  of  eternity.  But  first  the 
churches  gave  the  means,  and  the  sons  to  be  educated.  That  giv- 
ing must  have  been  done,  or  the  college  could  have  returned  no 


OF    liELOIT   COLLEGE.  55 

such  inestimable  recompenses.  Only  as  the  churches  bestow 
means  and  men  upon  the  college,  can  the  college  give  back  this 
grand  propagating,  mental  and  spiritual  manhood  upon  the 
churches.  Dry  up  either  spring,  and  both  streams  are  gone. 
Churches  never  have  lived  and  grown,  without  pastors  ;  and  pas- 
tors  have  never  been  found  of  any  great  use  to  the  churches,  un- 
less there  were  schools  to  train  and  fit  them  for  their  work.  The 
schools  have  commonly  found  the  best  material  in  the  churches, 
and  often  out  of  the  most  unpromising  stock,  has  schooling  fash- 
ioned the  most  powerful  and  valuable  servants  of  the  church. 

You  all  have  heard  of, — some  here  have  seen, — Mt,  Athos,  the 
stately  bulb  of  the  Actean  promontory,  flinging  its  huge  shadow 
for  leagues,  'tis  said,  across  the  hills  of  Lemnos  on  one  side,  and 
over  the  iEgean's  waves,  on  the  other.  When  Alexander  the 
Great,  wore  the  Persian  and  Median  empires  as  his  crown,  and 
the  waves  of  his  shining  victories  irradiated  the  outmost  shores 
of  the  known  world ;  a  poetic  architect  named  Stasicrates,  pro- 
posed,— as  an  embodiment  of  the  demigod  men  thought  the  con- 
queror to  be,- — to  carve  this  Mt.  Athos  into  a  magnificent  statue 
of  Alexander,  six  thousand  feet  high,  holding  in  its  left  hand  a 
city  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  and  pouring  through  a  horn  of 
plenty  in  its  right  hand,  a  copious  river  into  the  sea  at  its  feet ! 

Was  a  more  insane  magnificence  ever  proposed  1  What  a 
master-piece  of  workmanship  ;  what  an  exaltation  of  human  gen- 
ius ;  and  what  a  majestic  flattery  that  completed,  would  have 
been  !  But  this  college  has  done  and  waits  to  do,  grander  sculp- 
ture than  that  had  been.  It  takes  the  rugged,  shapeless  bulbs  of 
young  manhood  and  carves  them  into  "  temples,"  such  as  the 
Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  ;  into  better  than  statues, — living  men,  "full 
of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  in  place  of  a  river  from  clas- 
sic cornucopia,  the  "  water  of  life  springing  up  into  eternal  life," 
flows  through  them  to  dying  "myriads. 

Such  work  this  college, — all  Christian  colleges, — have  done, 
are  still  doing,  and,  if  the  churches  will  quarry  the  marbles,  pro- 
vide for  and  maintain  the  sculptors  here  at  work,  such  will  be  the 

products  to  the  end  of  time. 

Colleges  and  churches  in  mutual  relations!  Yes:  together 
they  rise:  they  stand  together,  and  together,  if  ever — they  will 
fall.     Neither  can  exist  alone,  and  each  doing  good  to  the  other, 


56 


QUARTER    CENTENNIAL    OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE. 


i 


gets  a  greater  good  to  itself,  and  either  sowing  sparingly  for  the 
other,  will  also  reap  sparingly  from  it ;  but  as  God  is  true,  and  as 
all  history  testifies, — each  sowing  bountifully  to  the  other,  shall 
reap  more  bountifully  that  it  has  sown. 


APPENDIX. 

A 

THE    FINANCIAL     DEVELOPMENT. 


At  this  stage  in  the  history  of  the  college,  a  brief  and  summary 
statement  of  the  sources  from  which  the  funds  for  its  support  and 
endowment  have  been  drawn  and  of  its  financial  condition  seems 
appropriate. 

Agreeably  to,  and  indeed,  beyond  their  first  pledge,  the  citizens 
of  Beloit  donated  ten  acres  of  land  for  a  site  and  contributed  about 
$8,000.00  for  the  erection  of  the  first  building.  The  site  has  been, 
by  subsequent  purchases,  doubled  so  that  it  now  embraces  over 
twenty  acres. 

The  first  donation  from  any  one  outside  of  Beloit  was  in  1845,  the 
gift  of  160  acres  of  land  by  Rev,  Henry  Barber  of  Dutchess  Co.,  N» 
Y.  This  was  given  at  the  suggestion  of  Rev.  S.  Peet,  through 
whose  agency,  this  with  other  lands  in  Wisconsin,  had  been  saved 
to  the  absent  owner.  A  condition  was  attached  to  the  gift  that  the 
college  should  open  its  doors  to  students  without  distinction  of  race 
or  color.  The  land  was  sold  for  $1,000.00  and  the  avails  appropri*- 
ated  to  the  enlargement  of  the  site.  There  being,  at  che  time,  no 
other  source  of  income,  the  trustees  contributed  from  their  own 
pockets  to  meet  the  taxes  and  expenses  of  sale. 

The  first  foundation  for  a  professorship  was  laid  by  Hon.  T.  W. 
Williams  of  New  London,  Conn.,  in  1847.  On  a  visit  to  his  rela- 
tive, Mrs.  Peet,  he  became  interested  in  the  college  enterprise  and 
gave  lands  lying  in  Wisconsin  and  Indiana  which  yielded  nearly 
$10, 000.00.  By  subsequent  donations  of  Mr.  Williams,  this  fund 
has  been  increased  to  $12,000.00. 

The  nucleus  of  a  library  was  gathered  in  1848,  chiefly  by  contri- 
butions of  books  made  by  eastern  friends  to  Prof.  Bush n ell,  who, 
at  the  same  time,  secured  the  Saybrook  scholarship  of  $500.00.  the 
first  provision  for  the  relief  of  indigent  students.  To  this  the  Aus- 
tin scholarship  of  $500.00  was  added  in  1850,  through  the  agency  ot 
Rev.  A.  Kent. 


€8  QUARTER    CEKTENNIAL 

In  1849,  Rev.  David  Root,  then  of  Connecticut,  began  his  contri- 
butions towards  endowing  a  second  professorship,  by  transferring 
lands  and  claims  in  the  West.  The  whole  amount  brought  into 
the  treasury,  after  a  course  of  yeais,  from  this  source  is  $10,000.00, 
held  on  a  condition  similar  to  that  of  Mr.  Barbels  gift. 

In  that  year  also,  Rev.  S.  Peet  as  agent,  commenced  canvassing 
the  West  for  means  to  meet  the  current  expenses.  His  efforts,  at 
length,  brought  in  something  over  $8,000.00,  nearly  one-half  of 
which  was  contributed  by  ministers,  on  this  missionary  field,  out 
of  their  scanty  salaries.  Friends  in  Milwaukee  showed  their  good 
will  for  the  college  and  for  their  pastor,  called  to  be  its  president,  by 
thegift  of  $2,300.00  to  the  permanent  funds.  Soon  after,  Prof.  Bush  - 
nell  collected  in  Chicago  $3300.00  additional  for  permanent  invest- 
ment. 

In  1850,  Rev.  M.  P.  Squier  pledged  for  the  endowment  of  the 
chair  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  to  which  he  had  been  elect- 
ed ,  the  sum  of  $10,000.00.  The  pledge  was,  at  a  later  date,  redeem- 
ed by  the  transfer  of  property  and  claims  which  have  realized  the 
full  sum. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  the  largest  donation  from  any 
one  person  was  made  by  Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Hale  of  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  in  the  form  of  deeds  for  over  five  thousand  acres  of  land  in 
Illinois.  The  avails  of  this  generous  gift  have  amounted  to  $35,- 
C00.00,  of  which  $25,000.00  are  set  apart  as  an  endowment  for  the 
chair  of  mathematics  and  the  remainder  was,with  the  consent  of  the 
donor,  applied  to  sustain  the  life  of  the  college  in  the  crisis  of  the 
late  war. 

In  1854,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  N.  Brinsmade  of  Beloit,  began  his  contri- 
butions towards  endowing  the  Latin  Professorship  for  which  he 
has  already  paid  into  the  treasury  $7,000.00,  with  the  expressed 
purpose  to  add  to  it  hereafter  according  to  his  means.  During  the 
same  year,  the  education  fund  for  the  aid  of  needy  students  was 
raised  to  $4,000.00  by  a  bequest  of  $2,000.00  from  Joseph  Otis,  Esq., 
of  Norwich ,  Conn. ,  an  d  $1 ,000.00  from  Capt.  John  Emerson  and  his 
heirs. 

The  large  endowments  came  in  a  form  such  that  some  time  was 
requisite  to  convert  them  and  make  them  productive.  Meanwhile, 
current  expenses  must  be  provided  for.  During  eight  successive 
years  beginning  with  1849,  the  College  Society  from  its  collections 
in  the  east,  made  annual  appropriations  for  th  is  purpose,  which  av- 
eraged $1,000.00  per  annum.  During  the  years  1853-4,  Rev.  S. 
O.  Powell,  Rev.  H.  Lyman  and  the  president  were  successively  en- 
gaged in  special  agencies  to  secure  similar  relief  from  the  West. 
The  avails  of  these  efforts,  coming  in  through  a  series  of  years. 


OF   BELOIT    COLLEGE.  >'>■) 

amounted  to  $15,000.00.  For  three  years  from  1858  to  1830,  aid  was 
received  from  the  Regents  of  the  state  normal  fund,  on  account  of 
students  preparing  to  be  teachers,  which  amounted  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  $3,300.00.  These  resources,  with  some  incidental  contribu- 
tions from  other  quarters  have  sustained  the  operations  of  the  in- 
stitution, for  the  most  part  without  debt  or  detriment  to  perman- 
ent endowments. 

In  1857,  the  bequest  of  Mrs.  L.  Colton  of  Beloit,  whose  watchful 
regard  for  the  college  had  been  manifested,  from  time  to  time,  in 
gifts  for  specific  objects  to  the  amount  of  $1,000.00,  seoured  a  per- 
manent fund  of  85,000.00  for  the  increase  of  the  library.  In  the 
year  1880,  the  name  of  R^v.  Dr.  Ralph  Emerson  was  also  identified 
with  the  library  through  gifts  from  members  of  his  family  of  prop- 
erty, whose  avails  will  ultimately  amount  to  not  less  than  $15,000. 

In  the  year  1854-5,  a  building  for  the  accommodation  of  students 
was  erected  at  an  expense  of  $7,000.00,  which  was  met  by  a  tempo- 
rary loan,  subsequently  paid  up  from  funds  received  for  general 
purposes.  In  1858,  the  citizens  of  Beloit  made  a  special  contribu- 
tion of  $3,000.00  jpr  the  erection  of  the  chapel.  Three-fifths  of  the 
cost  of  the  building  was  thus  provided  for. 

In  the  year  1883,  were  commenced  special  efforts  to  strengthen 
the  foundations  of  the  college  financially,  by  agencits  in  both  the 
West  and  the  East.  Rev.  P.  C.  Pettibone  undertook  this  service 
in  the  West.  The  burden  of  labor  in  the  East  devolved  on  the 
President,  under  the  auspices  of  the  College  Society.  The  effort  in 
the  East,  in  connection  with  the  results  of  previous,  partial  agen- 
cies, realized  the  sum  of  $30,000.00  to  be  added  to  permanent  endow- 
ments. In  this  amount  are  included  a  gift  of  $10,003.00  from  an 
anonymous  friend,  one  of  $5,000X0  from  WinthropS.  Gil  man,  Esq., 
of  New  York,  and  many  other  generous  contributions  ranging  from 
$50.00  to  $1,000.00  each.  Mr.  Pettibone's  service,  continued  for 
nearly  seven  years,  yielded  good  fruit  in  the  addition  of  some  SG0,- 
000.00  to  the  resources.  This  includes  $12,000.00,  the  avails  of  prop* 
erty  donated  by  O.  Harwood,  Esq.,  of  Wauwatosa,  to  endow  a  pro- 
fessorship, $1,500.00  realized  from  the  bequest  of  Miss  Nye  of  Fal- 
mouth, Mass.,  and  nearly  $18,000.00  collected  from  hundreds  of 
alumni  and  friends  all  over  this  region,  for  the  erection  of  Memo- 
rial Hall.  The  remainder  was  given  for  general  purposes,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  in  the  form  of  scholarships,  in  accordance  with  a 
plan  adopted  some  years  before.  The  books  of  the  college  show  fif- 
teen permanent  scholarships  of  $500.00  each  and  one  hundred  and 
six  individual  scholarships  of  $100. 00  each,  fully  paid.  Partial  pay- 
ments in  other  cases,  swell  the  whole  amount  contributed  in  this 
form  to  $20,000.00,     This  plan  has  been  a  means  of  Increasing  the 


60  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

number  of  students  as  well  as  the  resources,  with  no  serious  embar- 
rassment, ft  is  however,  deemed  advisable  hereafter  to  suspend  is- 
suing individual  scholarships,  except  as  pledges  have  been  already 
given. 

Among  the  miscellaneous  donations  which  have  come  from  un- 
looked  for  sources  to  meet  various  exigencies,  the  gifts  of  $500.00 
from  Miss  Elizabeth  Davis  of  Boston,  as  a  fund  for  the  purchase 
of  books  on  English  literature  and  of  $500.00  from  Mrs.  Ripley  of 
Chicago,  as  a  fund  for  providing  chemicals  &c,  for  the  scientific 
department,  deserve  a  mention  as  those  most  recently  received. 

This  review  of  the  financial  development  of  the  college  brings 
freshly  to  mind  the  struggles  and  trials  through  which  its  growth 
has  been  made.  At  the  same  time,  it  gives  occasion  for  devout 
gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  whose  favor  has  so  richly  blessed  the 
enterprise  and  for  hearty  thanks  to  the  many  friends  whose  time- 
ly benefactions  have  been  divinely  ordered  tomeettheeverexpand- 
ing  wants  of  the  institution. 

The  present  resources  of  the  college  are  exhibited  in  the  follow- 
ing concise  statement: 

PERMANENT   FUNDS. 

1.  Professorships:  Williams  Professorship,  $12,000.00 

Hale  do  25,000.00 

Squier  do  10.000.00 

Root  do  10,000.00 

Brinsmade  do  7,000.00 

Harwood  do  12,000.00       76,000.00 

2.  Endowments  n'ot  designated,  -  30,000.00 

3    Education  Funds, 9,000.00 

4.  Library  Funds, 15,000.00 

5'  Prize  Funds, 600.00 

Total  invested  funds,  $130,600.00 

UNPRODUCTIVE  PROPERTY. 

1.  Site  and  Buildings,        -        -        -  75,000.00 

2.  Library,  Cabinet  and  Apparatus,  20,000.00         95,000.00 

Total  property  of  the  college,  $225,600.00 

The  current  expenses  of  the  college  exceed  the  certain  income  by 
from  $2,000.00  to  $3,000.00  each  year.  The  deficiency  has  been  thus 
far  met  by  miscellaneous  subscriptions  and  the  sale  of  scattered 
pieces  of  land.  This  resource  is  nearly  exhausted.  Only  one  of 
the  professorships  is  more  than  half  endowed.  Meantime,  there 
is  urgent  pressure  for  the  enlargement  of  the  work  involving  an  in- 
creased scale  of  expenditure.  Such  enlargement  seems  imperative- 
ly necessary  to  put  the  college  forward  in  the  future,  as  its  prestige 
in  the  past  warrants  and  demands. 


OF    BEI.OIT    COLLEGE. 


61 


Means  are  now  urgently  needed 

To  increase  endowments  for  the  Department  of  Instruction, 

To  provide  for  the  care  of  the  Library, 

To  equip  the  Scientific  Department, 

To  give  a  distinct  establishment  to  the  Preparatory  School, 

To  improve  the  Grounds  and  Buildings, 

To  increase  the  Fund  for  aiding  worthy  young  men, 

To  provide  a  Gymnasium,  and 

To  secure  a  reliable  income  for  Miscellaneous  expenses, 

Under  the  pressure  of  these  wants,  and  with  a  view  to  the  en- 
laigement  of  the  college  that  it  may  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  the  great  Interior  in  which  it  stands,  the  Trustees  are 
constrained  to  invite  a  general  co-operation  of  those  who  appreci- 
ate its  importance  in  an  immediate  effort  to  raise  the  sum  of  $200,- 
000.00  to  be  added  to  present  resources.     Shall  they  ask  in  vain  ? 


B. 

THE  FEMALE  SEMINARY. 

In  estimating  theresults  of  the  plan  instituted  by  the  conventions 
which  established  Beloit  College,  we  should  take  into  view  also  the 
Female  Seminary,  which  was  an  essential  part  of  the  same  design. 
Originating  with  the  same  conventions,  and  committed  at  first  to 
the  same  trustees,  it  was  finally  located  at  Rockford,  Illinois,  in 
1850,  and  has  since  been  carrying  on  its  work  parallel  with  that  of 
the  college.  With  a  view'  to  the  best  efficiency  of  each,  the  Boards 
of  Trustees  have  become  somewhat  distinct  in  their  membership, 
as  they  are  in  their  legal  relations;  but  they  still  represent  the  same 
sympathies,and  the  results  of  the  two  institutions  belong  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  common  plan. 

The  seminary  occupies  a  site  of  about  twelve  acres  on  the  east- 
ern bluffs  of  Rock  River,  within  the  city  of  Rockford,  and  yet  re- 
tired as  well  as  healthful  and  beautiful.  It  has  accommodations 
for  two  hundred  boarders,  as  well  as  for  the  various  requirements 
of  a  comprehensive  course  in  literature,  science  and  the  fine  arts. 
Its  collegiate  course,  like  that  of  the  college,  extends  through  four 
years.  There  are  also  preparatory  and  normal  courses,  each  of  two 
years,  as  well  as  excellent  facilities  for  instruction  in  music  and  oth- 
er accomplishments. 

The  first  Principal,  Miss  Anna  P.  Sill,  is  still  at  the  head  of  the 
school,  supported  by  twelve  competent  teachers. 


O04  QUARTER    CENTENNIAL 

It  has  sent  forth  nineteen  classes,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  graduates,  two  hundred  and  one  from  the  full  course  and  thir- 
ty-eight from  the  normal  course.  More  than  three  thousand  pu- 
pils have  heen  within  its  walls. 

As  the  result  of  the  religious  influence  continually  present  in  the 
institution,  it  is  estimated  that  not  less  than  five  or  si  x  hundred  of 
its  pupils  have  been  converted  there;  and  of  the  two  hundred  and 
one  full  graduates  one  hundred  and  ninety-one,  and  of  the  thirty- 
eight  normal  graduates  thirty-two  went  forth  as  Christians.  Fif- 
teen of  the  former  teachers  or  pupils  have  become  foreign  mission- 
aries, while  those  who  remain  at  home  are  doing  their  part  toward 
the  Christian  culture  of  the  land. 

If  the  seminary  did  not,  like  the  college,  send  four  hundred  sons 
to  the  war,  it  was  a  centre  of  that  living  and  efficient  sympathy, 
by  which  American  women  sustained  and  comforted  those  who 
went.  Its  daughters  also  were  found  among  those  whose  labors  in 
teaching  secured  the  results  of  the  work  of  war. 

The  seminary  is  now  doing  its  work,  with  a  fair  provision  as  re- 
gards accommodations,  and  some  of  the  materiel  of  instruction. 
It  needs  endowments  ;  and  it  needs  the  continuance  and  the  con- 
tinual renewal  of  the  enlightened  and  Christian  sympathy  and  co- 
operation in  which  it  originated,  and  by  which  it  baa  thus  far  been 
cherished. 

THE   AGGREGATE  RESULTS. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  the  movement  in  which  Beloifc 
college  originated,  contemplated  the  co-operation  of  the  friends  of 
Christian  liberal  education,  especially  of  Congregattonalists  and 
Presbyterians,  in  the  section  lying  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
Mississippi,  in  building  a  college  and  a  female  seminary.  Theo- 
logical education  has,  as  was  natural,  been  provided  by  the  sever- 
al denominations  at  Chicago,  the  commercial  focus  of  the  region, 
— leaving  the  college  and  the  seminary  to  pursue,  in  the  heart  of 
the  country,  their  specific  work,  upon  the  common  basis  of  evan- 
gelic truth  and  sound  learning. 

We  have,  then,  as  the  results  of  the  movement,  two  institutions, 
essentially  collegiate  in  their  character,  one  in  sympathy  and  dif- 
fering in  location,  administration  and  courses  of  study,  with  a  view 
t<>  the  highest  efficiency  of  each  in  forming  intelligent  and  Chris- 
tian manhood  and  womanhood.  Each  presents  a  collegiate  course 
<>;*  four  years,  supplied  by  a  preparatory  and  supplemented  by  a 
shorter  course.  Both  have  now  been  at  work  for  a  period  of  from 
t  venty  to  twenty-five  years.  Nearly  five  thousand  pupils  have 
l»ien,  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  connected  with  them,  and  are 
u  w  diffusing  their  education  as  well  in  the  thousand  homes,  as  in 


OF    BELOIT    COLLEGE.  63 

the  colleges,  schools  and  churches,  public  journals,  legislativebod- 
ies,  or  courts  of  justice  and  other  public  positions,  in  which  they 
preside  or  act.  The  young  men  from  the  college  who  have  preach- 
ed the  gospel  in  more  than  twenty  of  our  own  states  or  territories, 
and  the  former  members  of  both  institutions,  who  have  gone  to 
many  foreign  peoples,  illustrate  the  wide  scope  of  the  influence, 
which  goes  from  such  centres  to  all  the  world  and  in  all  honorable 
occupations.  Four  or  five  hundred  are  now  in  them  year  by  year ; 
they  come  from  and  go  to  all  the  world. 

More  than  four  hundred  have  completed  the  full  courses  of  in- 
struction, and,  both  by  the  positions  which  they  fill  in  the  world 
and  by  the  manner  in  which  they  fill  them,  are  confirming  the  per- 
suasion of  the  value  of  such  a  training,  which  lay  at  the  root  of  the 
whole  design. 

How  have  the  two  institutions  realized  the  hopes  of  their  found- 
ers in  their  religious  influence?  It  has  been  the  continual  effort 
in  each  to  present  the  fear  of  the  Lord  as  the  beginning  of  wisdom 
and  the  vital  knowledge  of  God  as  the  consummation  of  education. 
It  is  to  be  thankfully  recorded  that  scarcely  a  year,  or  even  a  term, 
has  passed  in  either  without  conversions.  It  is  estimated,  that  not 
less  than  eight  or  nine  hundred  have  embraced  the  Christian  hope 
during  their  course.  Of  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven  graduates, 
more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  were  professors  of  religion. 

Beside  those  who  are  engaged  in  Christian  work  in  all  sections 
of  our  land  or  in  Canada  and  England,  twenty-five  of  their  form- 
er members  have  gone  on  foreign  missions,  to  stations  almost  en- 
circling the  globe— to  the  Dacotah  and  the  Creek  Indians,  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  and  Micronesia,  to  Japan  and  China,  to  Burmah  and 
Hindoostan,  to  Egypt  and  Turkey,  and  home  by  the  West  Indies 
and  the  American  Indians  who  still  remain  in  our  eastern  states. 
These  results  of  the  period  of  infancy  may  encourage  the  hope 
and  prayer  that  the  two  institutions  may ,  in  their  maturity,  do  their 
part  towrard  the  salvation  of  the  world. 


ERRATA. 

On  page  4th,  line  lGth,  instead  of  "  Xow,'5  read  For. 
M     "    10th,     "      4th,       "        ""their,"     i«    these. 
M     4<    11th,  transpose  the  first  two  lines  of  Mr.  Clary's  paper. 
"    "    29th,  line  3d,  instead  of  "have  ever,"  read  elsewhere. 
"    "    87th,  lines  15th  to  18th  inclusive  are  superfluous. 
"    "   48th,  line  22d,  instead  of  "  Desired,"  read  Desire, 


BELOIT      OOLLEOE. 
BELOIT,     WISCONSIN. 

This  is  now  a  fully  organized  college,  and  aims  to  make  a  thor- 
ough liberal  education  practicable  for  every  young  man  of  energy 
and  character,  who  is  willing  to  exert  himself  to  secure  it.  I  or 
this  purpose  it  presents, 

I.  The  College  Coubse,  which  is  under  the  charge  of  a  Presi- 
dent and  seven  Professors,  and  is  intended  to  combine  a  thorough 
pursuit  of  the  studies  embraced  in  the  course  of  the  best  New 
England  colleges,  with  such  discipline  and  influences  as  will  aid 
in  forming  a  true  and  Christian  manhood. 

In  order  to  secure  the  complete  preparation  needed  for  a  sound 
education,  it  provides  also, 

II.  The  Preparatory  School, — Which  is  conducted  by  a 
Principal  and  Assistant,  with  aid  from  the  professors  of  the  college 
in  their  several  departments.  It  gives  a  thorough  three  years' 
course  in  the  studies  required  for  admission  to  college,  viz.,  Lat- 
in, Greek,  and  English  grammar  and  composition  ;  Caesar, 
Virgil,  and  Cicero's  Orations;  Xenophon's  Analasis  ;  Arithmetic, 
Algebra,  Geography  and  United  States  History. 

To  meet  the  wants  of  those  who  cannot  take  the  full  course, 

III.  The  English  Course  has  been  arranged,  extending  through 
three  years,  and  embracing  the  English  studies  preparatory  for 
college,  Book  Keeping,  Natural  Philosophy,  Chemistry,  Physi- 
ology, Mineralogy  and  Geology,  Geometry  Trigonometry,  Men- 
tal and  Moral  Philosophy,  Political  Economy,  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  General  History,  with  Latin,  French  or  Ger- 
man if  desired. 

EXPENSES. 

For  tuition  and  incidentals  in  the  College,  per  annum, $40.50  $40.50 

The  cost  of  board,  without  room,  ranges  from 80.00  to  160.00 

The  cost  of  room, fuel,  lights  and  furniture 20(0  to  £0.00 

The  cost  of  washing, ..' 12.00  to  25.00 

The  cost  of  text  hooks ...      8.00  to  15.00 

Total, $lf0  50to    $290.00 

The  charge  per  annum  lor  tuition  and  incidentals  in  the  Preparatory  School  is  $29.(0.  Other 
expenses  the  same  as  above  stated. 

CALENDAR. 

The  year  for  botii  the  College  and  the  Preparatory  School  is  divided  into  three  terms  as 
follows : 

First  Term  from  the  first  Wednesday  of  September  to  the  Wednesday  before  Christmas. 
Second  Term  from  the  first  Wednesday  of  January  to  the  first  Wednesday  of  April. 
Third  Term  from  the  third  Wednesday  of  April  to  the  Commencement. 
The  Commencement  is  held  on  the  Wednesday  before  the  4th  of  July. 
For  catalogues  or  information,  application  may  be  made  to  Rev.   A.  L.  CHAPIN,  P.  D., 
President,  or  I.  W.  PETTIBONE,  A.  M.,  Principal  of  the  Preparatory  School. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


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